Malevolence
by Skillet Lord
Summary: 2 years after the Mad Hatter Crisis that took place in Total Drama World Tour, Chris has gathered 30 All Stars together for a new season on Camp Wawanakwa. But little do the competitors know that Mad Hatter Killer is still alive, and is back with an ally to reap his vengeance on the world. Part 2 of Monster Chronicles. Will become Rated M later on.
1. Let the Games Begin

**Disclaimer : I don't own Total Drama. If I did then the actual All Stars wouldn't have been so horrible**

 **Chapter 1: Let the Games Begin**

* * *

In a dimly lit room, a demon sat at a piano playing a melancholy tune. He had bushy brown hair, pale white skin, piercing scarlet eyes, and the pointed teeth of a carnivore. He wore a striped prison uniform, a fez hat, and a pair of shackles around his arms and demon was Cedric von Túfeice, who had been sealed away after his humiliating defeat at the end of Total Drama World Tour. To most people he had been dead and gone since then. However he was still around and plotting vengeance with an old friend.

This old friend was Mal Doran who came through the only door in the bar for the occasional visit. And this particular visit happened to be very important. "Well if it isn't Mikey boy? I'm assuming from the look on your face you're not here to play cards." Cedric stopped playing and looked at Mal as he came through the doorway.

"It's time for our plan to come around. A fifth season was just announced and I have a feeling that Mike will be in it, and so will Cody and Duncan."

"How do you know that? And what about Red?" Cedric asked as he made a cigarette appear.

"Tyler's not participating because he's got a baby to take care of now. But everybody else got dragged in the same way. The fine print."

"I love the fine print." Cedric dropped his ashes into a tray "I presume it's cross generational?"

"Yep. It should give you time to test out your new powers."

"Of course. I'll just sit here waiting for you to break out." Cedric walked away from his piano and over to the bar.

"That should be a lot harder now that your contract with the Baron has been rendered null and void." Mal said before sliding down a piece of paper "This is a list of people that's competing. Pick from that list who'll join us."

"You got it Mikey. Pip pip cheerio and all that!" Cedric said as Mal slowly shut the door to the bar.

* * *

It had been two years since Total Drama World Tour ended and Cedric's black mark left on the world had begun to fade. People had finally gotten back to their normal lives and found that they were capable of relaxing now. Especially those who had participated in the first generation of Total Drama. But they would now get no such rest as Chris had recently finished his one year sentence for illegally dumping toxic waste during Revenge of the Island and had ordered a fifth season back on Camp Wawanakwa.

"Welcome to Total Drama All Stars! After my year long vacation in the Ottowa-Carleton Detention Centre, I need to be in a familiar environment with the people I love…to HURT! Conditions of my parole: 'cept the hurt, that's all McLean!" Chris walked across the repaired dock past to the do further exposition "For this year, I've decided to bring back 30 of your favorite players in a clash of wills. And this time, it's for a whole new prize! First off from Revenge of the Island we have Multiple Mike, and his four extra personalities."

Chef then pushed Mike out of the plane as he was introduced, followed by others who met a similar fate "The pushover who briefly turned commando, Zoey. Athletic meat head, Lightning. And brainiac bubble boy, Cameron."

"This is highly illegal." Cameron cried as Chef pitched him out the plane.

"Also from season 4, the game loving dough ball Sam. Challenge throwing dirt farmer Scott. Bruising jockette Jo, who dominated until her victim fought back."

Unlike the others, Jo gave Chef quite a sum of resistance "You're a deadman McLean!" She was then given a hard shove out the door by Chef, sending her flying.

"Next up, friendly army cadet, Brick."

"Brick MacArthur ready for duty." Brick saluted only to be pushed out with a scream.

"Nature loving moonchild, Dawn." Chef pushed the seemingly unfazed Dawn out of the plane's door "Fame mongering mutant, Dakota."

"Oh no! Not this show again." Dakota cried in horror. She had gone back to her normal blonde appearance after cleansing, but still wanted nothing to do with Chris.

"And Jersey Shore Wannabe, Anne Maria."

"Watch the hair Reaper face!" Anne Maria yelled at Chef who managed to push her out and into the waters below.

"And now from our original cast, bossy know it all, Courtney!"

"This so violates my contract!" Courtney yelled as Chef dropped her by the heel into the lake.

"Gothic boyfriend stealer and breaker of the lust chain, Gwen."

"I said I was sorry!" Gwen cried as Chef tossed her out of the plane like a sack of potatoes.

"Next up 3/4 of the Drama Brothers: musician with a 9 fetish, Trent; super dweeb, Harold; and prissy pretty boy Justin." Chris said their names as they fell.

"Not the hair! Not the hair!"

"By popular demand and death threats we have returning favorites from Season 1: temperamental body builder Eva." Chris winced in fear as Eva roared when Chef finally managed to get her out the plane "Snarky bookworm, Noah."

"No! No! No! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Noah grabbed on for dear life to Chef's leg, only for the grim reaper to shake him off.

"And the Prairie born poser Ezekiel." Chris announced with a deadpan tone and scowl.

"Yo, Yo, Yo! The Zeke Man's back and in it to-" Ezekiel tried to rap out for Chef to literally kick him out of the plane.

"Also returning are the party boy Geoff, surfer chick Bridgette, and super fan Sierra."

"For Cody!" Sierra cried as she dived into the lake.

"Man do I feel sorry for that white boy." Leshawna said while sticking her head out the door, only to be pushed out herself.

"Loud and proud Leshawna, and her archenemy Heather."

"I hate Chris!" Heather yelled as she descended.

"Not to mention the chicken hearted brick house with a soft spot for animals, DJ."

"Not again!"

"Resident psycho hose beast Izzy, former delinquent Duncan…"

"Bring it on McLean." Duncan said nonchalantly as he fell. After his green mohawk had been damaged beyond repair by Cedric, he'd grown a new crimson one with triangular spikes.

"And season one winner Owen."

"LET ME OFF THIS THING!" Owen charged off due to his incredible fear of flying causing a massive tidal wave in the lake.

After spitting out a bit of lake water Zoey asked "Is that really everybody?"

"Has to be. That's everyone worth sending home." Scott said earning him a glare from many of the second generation contestants.

"Not quite Scott. There's still two more." Chris folded his umbrella back up before pointing back at the plane's drop zone "Last but not least, we have Alejandro, the latin liar who ended up at the wrong end of a talisman back in World Tour…"

"GET HIM AWAY FROM ME! PLEASE GET HIM AWAY FROM ME!" Alejandro was having a visible panic attack due to something else on the plane, and leapt out without Chef's help.

But what drew the most attention was the hideous X-Shaped scar that marred his handsome face "W-What happened to that guy's face?" Anne Maria asked, a little sick to her stomach.

"Cedric, Cedric happened." Duncan said as he watched Alejandro land in the lake. Out of anybody in the world who Cedric's rampage of cruelty had hurt, Duncan was at the top of that list.

Only one person there experienced it more than him "And half pathetic geek/half demon possessed sociopath, Cody."

As he'd mostly kept to himself during the flight there, no one noticed Cody's presence. Several of the players were shocked upon seeing him, especially those from the second generation.

"What's he doing here?" Jo asked judgmentally.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Scott: "So the demon wimp is competing? Hah! This season just keeps getting better and better!"**

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 **Cody: "I really hope everyone isn't afraid me like Al; I already lost some friends after World Tour."**

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 **Noah: "Seriously Cody, after what happened in World Tour you still had the courage to compete? You've got some serious balls."**

* * *

As he washed up on shore, Noah gave his much larger friend an annoyed glare "How come every time I'm in the same area as you I almost die. But then again that's pretty much the whole show."

"It's not so bad. Cedric could still be around." Owen said as he shook himself clean of any water.

"True. Speaking of that, where's Cody anyways. Haven't seen him since we were kidnapped by McMuffin."

"It's pronounced McLean Noah." Sierra said as she walked by. Like Noah and Owen she noticed Cody wasn't in plain sight and began looking for him due to her stalkerish nature "Codykins? Come out, we have relationship business to talk about."

"I think I saw him head towards the washrooms." Trent pointed out causing Sierra to head in that direction. When the coast was clear he crouched in the sand "You can come out now man."

Cody broke from the pile of sand, taking a deep breath of fresh air "Thanks man. I owe you one!"

"No probs" Trent assured his friend. "Truth to be told, I feel you on that one; I have my own share of stalkers"

"You mean the kid named Kelsey back in the TDA aftermath, or Ginger?" Cody had him in the right spot as Trent cringed at the mention of their names.

"Both of them actually." Trent said in admission. Ever since the conclusion of World Tour, the two had the good idea of joining forces to hound him. There's never a day where he would stumble upon them. Heck, even his privacy in the bathroom was being disturbed. Which was another reason why he's competing - to get away from his obsessive fan-girls.

Cody was about to continue when he saw someone approaching behind Trent, his orange hair still wet from the fall.

"Hey there demon wimp. Didn't think you'd be competing again. You're either really brave or really stupid!"

Irritated by Scott's insults, Cody asked "…Ummmm…who are you?"

"Some jerk from from season 4." Trent said with a glare. Unlike Cody, Trent took the time to watch Season 4 and knew of everything Scott did.

"Yeah I'm a jerk. And you're a serial killer, wimp!" Scott got up into his face, while Cody tried to back away.

However Trent showed more resistance towards his bullying "Hey. He may have let Cedric into his body, but his involvement was a complete accident. At least he actually stopped him, where as you rely on dumb luck to get you anywhere!"

"Whatever. Now we know who's going home first this time around." Scott mocked him with a laugh as he walked away.

"What a prick. Hope I'm not on his team." Trent glowered at Scott before turning to Cody, who depressively trudged away with his hat covering his face.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Trent: "Psyched to be back for another shot. I really screwed things up back in Season 2, so I'm happy I get to redeem myself. I'm just worried about how everybody will treat Cody after what happened two years ago."**

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 **Harold: "Scott thinks he's so clever. Well, we'll see what happens when he gets a taste of mad skills!" Harold flung around nunchucks only to hit himself in the head**

* * *

"Unbelievable, this is not happening!" Gwen tried to imagine everything transpiring before her as just a dream... a bad dream and not reality.

"For once, I agree with you." Courtney begrudgingly came to an agreement with her rival.

As one of the very few surviving victims of Cedric von Túfeice, she didn't want to endure anymore pain and hardship and return only empty-handed.

"I didn't sign up for this Mclean!" Leshawna complained.

"Contracts, remember"

"Screw that, there may not be any boats here but that won't stop me from getting off this hole. I'm swimming!" Duncan said in defiance as mutterings of agreement rang across both generations of tormented teens.

"Oh really? I can promise that you wouldn't want to..." Chris began once again. "...'cause in this season, you'll be competing for not one million, not two million, nor 3 million, but ONE... BILLION... DOLLARS"

Everyone looked flabbergasted.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Zoey: "Did he just say..." static came as Zoey's words are perpetuated by others of similar reactions.**

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 **Courtney: "... One...!" Courtney followed in a bright expression that people would see on children receiving their desired gifts for Christmas.**

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 **Heather: "...Billion...!" Heather screeched as she pulled her long neat hair in disbelief.**

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 **Eva: "...Dollars...!" Eva crushed the coconut in her hands, her determination spiked even more by the grand scale of the prize.**

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 **DJ: "One billion dollars!" DJ gaped before managing to find the words. "Forget getting Momma back to Jamaica! With kind of coin, I could get her a mansion there!"**

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 **Duncan: "Ok I take back everything I said before, bring it on McLean." Duncan declared with fire in his eyes.**

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 **Lightning: "That billion dollars in mine and sha-mine alone!" Lightning boasted as he pointed a finger toward the camera.**

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 **Alejandro: "As tempting as this competition's prize is, count me out." Came one of the rare truths from the forked-tongue of Alejandro. His eyes now lacked the manipulative and greedy passion that was found in World Tour. "All I want now is to escape this place... Away from... Cedric."**

 **There was a knock on the confessionals door.**

 **"Umm... Al are you finished yet" Recognizing the voice in a mere millisecond, the brutalized latin bolted right through the wall with a scream of utter fright.**

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 **Cody: "I'm not really sure. I could use the money, but they'll probably vote me out the first chance they get!" Cody said reluctantly.**

* * *

"Now that I have your interests, we can begin. This year the teams will be done in specific categories. When I call your name please go over to the correct mat."

"Surfer Chick, Sir Wetsalot, you go over to the white mat." Bridgette and Brick scowled at their nicknames.

"Captain Feral, black mat. Also on the black mat, Jersey Shore and the Brawny Woman." Ezekiel gave Anne Maria a flirtatious look, to which she sprayed him in the face, and caused him to stumble back into the growling Eva.

"Doris the Doorstop, Multiple Mike, and Beetle Whisperer you're on the white mat." Dawn, Mike, and Harold walked over to their team.

"Dakotazoid, Brainzilla, and Tower Jumper, you're on the black mat." Chris ordered Dakota, Izzy, and Justin.

However Justin stopped for a moment "That was only once! And I didn't jump, I was pushed!"

"Right. Next up for the white mat, we have Bubble Boy, Colonel Colossal, and Circus Thumb." Sam, DJ, and Cameron walked over to the mat "And on the black mat is Pride, Lust, and Wrath."

"Oh come on!" Courtney yelled.

* * *

 **Courtney: "How come I'm on a team with those two traitors?"**

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 **Gwen: "I hope this makes things better. I haven't seen Courtney in two years and she still hates my guts. Not that I blame her though considering I stole her boyfriend and almost caused the apocalypse but…"**

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 **Duncan: "I know I've turned over a new leaf and everything, but if he calls me Pride one more time, I'm gonna break him like a KitKat Bar!"**

* * *

"Please save all complaints for after pairings. Back to the white mat, we have the Trash Talker and 9 Picker." Trent and Leshawna both glared at Chris for the nicknames "Also on the white mat, are Tubby and the Brain."

Owen grabbed Noah in a bear hug, while Chris continued "And on the black mat, we have Scarface, Queen Bee, and Party Boy." Geoff walked over while Alejandro winked at Heather only to get pushed over in response.

"And finally, on the white mat, Redhead Rambo, Captain Hook, and Yandere Queen."

"Crap." Cody face palmed himself with his false hand before Sierra tackled him in glee.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Zoey asked.

"Nope. Audiences think sexual harassment is funny if it's a girl doing it to a guy." Chris said before looking at his clipboard "And finally for the black mat, Pitsniffer, Shemale, and Athletic Nonsupporter."

"Sha-team!" Lightning responded.

"I'm on a team with him again?" Jo objected to the decision while Scott scoffed.

"Hey, we could be stuck with the demon wimp."

"I wasn't finished yet!" Chris snapped before explaining further "These teams have been coded based on your past performance in the game. White team, you're the Heroic Hawks, and black team, you're the Villainous Vultures."

"Villainous? I'm on a villain team? Why?" Gwen asked, shocked at her placement.

"Maybe because you stole my boyfriend and became the new Heather! Not to mention what you and Duncan did to let Cedric out!" Courtney growled in her rivals face, before turning to Chris "But why am I on the villains team? I've done plenty of heroic things!"

"Not really. You cheated your entire way through Action, and if Gwen stealing Duncan constitutes being on the villains team, I'd say you cheating at the game definitely does." Chris explained while Courtney tried to object again "No more problems? Great, let's move on!"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Heather: "Not that I'm complaining or anything, but shouldn't Cody be a villain? His little demonic pen pal did nearly destroy the world!"**

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 **Geoff: "Am I surprised I ended up on the villains team? No. I was a major dick back in Season 2, and I've gotta make up for it. I just hope I can survive living in the same cabin as Eva again."**

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 **Trent: "Happy Cody ended up on the Heroes team. The kid made a mistake, but he doesn't deserve to be vilified for it. He was one of the ones who killed Cedric after all."**

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 **Mike: "I can't really harp on Cody for what happened last year. It would be pretty hypocritical of me" He then proceeded to switch over to Vito with a gasp.**

 **Vito: "Things should be cool as long as Captain Pinkeye doesn't show up for an encore. Otherwise the freak better be ready to rumble."**

* * *

"Now then, onto the first challenge. To make the season all the more painful, we've decided to fuse together several of the previous challenge with an extra twist. Minus the possibility of a demon hacking you to pieces."

In response to Chris' jokes, Cody sunk slightly as he used his top hat to cover up his face "Also, we cleaned up the island, so you can't get mutated. All the mutants have been moved to a FUN ZONE over on Boney Island."

"And we needed to know this why?" Duncan asked with a roll of his eyes.

"So you'll know what's in store if we ever decide to head over there." Chris said before changing subjects "Your accommodations have also changed. The losers of each challenge have to sleep in the same shitty old cabin, and eat in the same shitty old mess hall, with the same shitty old grub."

"So nothing's changed?" Noah snarked, getting a small chuckle out of Owen.

"Let me finish!" Chris yelled before continuing "But win the challenge, and you get to stay the night in the Victory Lodge. Five Star Meals, Ultra Soft Bedding, Veteran Butler, Luxury Massages, and Hot Tub!"

* * *

 **Heather: "Oh, I am so going too win that Victory Lodge. Have you seen who's on the Heroes team? We should win every challenge by the time the merge hits."**

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 **Alejandro: "The Lodge is tempting….No still not worth it. I've got to get out of this hell."**

* * *

"Aside from that, the rules are basically the same. Win the challenge, you get immunity, lose and risk getting voted off." Chris said and pointed towards the infamous 1000 foot high cliff "Your first challenge will be a homage to the original. Diving off the Cliffs of Wawanakwa into waters infested by psychotic, man-eating sharks!"

"y-You mean Fang?"

"No. Fang's in the FUN ZONE with the other mutants we didn't feel like cleaning. So you'll be free of a visit to the Trauma Chair. For now anyways."

* * *

 **Scott: "So I have a phobia of sharks? Can you blame me? I was stuck in that stupid trauma chair for 8 months, and my kidneys got switched around. But now I'm going to get back at the one who caused it! Watch yourself Zoey!"**

* * *

"Once you've dived into the water, you have to pick a key embedded into lake floor. Assuming you're still alive, a chosen teammate will drive you to the hotel in a baby carriage from Season 3's Central Park challenge. If the key fits, you win, but if it doesn't then you go back to the start and tag another teammate in to dive."

"And if we win, we get to stay in the Victory Lodge right?" Owen asked.

"Correctomundo my chubby friend. You've got half an hour to get your swimsuits on and pick a carriage runner. Now get your game on."

* * *

 **Bridgette: "Considering I was the first person to do that challenge, I know how difficult it is. Doing it without a safety ring could get us killed."**

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 **Izzy: "Oh yeah Shark Wrestling! That's what I'm talking about!"**

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 **Courtney: "We're doing this again? I couldn't even do it last time!"**

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 **Jo: "No fair! The first generation will totally have the advantage in this challenge!"**

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 **Ezekiel: "No shark's gonna stand in the way of the Zeke winning! I may have blown it last two times, but there's no way that's happening again. Sharks are way less than the scariest thing I've dealt with." After he said this, Ezekiel shuddered a little at the painful memories.**

* * *

About 20 minutes later, the teams had moved their luggage over to the craft's tent and changed into their swimwear for the challenge. At the moment, they were all marching towards the infamous cliff.

"Why do I have to push the carriage?" Owen asked his much shorter friend as the walked side by side.

"We don't want to blow every key out of the water with your impact, and no one will be able to push your weight." Noah explained before noticing Brick was listening in on them.

"I like your leadership skills. Name's Private First Class, Brick MacArthur."

"I'm Noah, no rank. Aren't you that fashion bomb guy from last year?"

"Not my best work." Brick said bashfully before noticing Cody was in the back of the crowd, masking his face with his top hat "What's wrong with that soldier?"

"He's trying to hide. Judging by how everyone's reacted to him, he's probably avoiding everyone on purpose."

"Because of the Mad Hatter Crisis?" Brick correctly guessed in reference to what happened in World Tour, which nearly resulted in the show's cancellation. "It's not his fault".

"He thinks otherwise."

Behind them, Mike and Zoey were also conversing. "Poor guy." Zoey vocalized her bleeding heart towards the Geek. "To be indirectly involved in Cedric's crime spree must really weigh on his conscience."

"I really feel bad for him." Mike sympathized before he mutters. "Probably because it's just like my situation with him."

"Who's him Mike? Is this about another personality of yours? I thought we've seen them all?" Mike snapped back to reality over Zoey's question.

"Oh, no you have. It's just Vito doing some crazy things at night while I'm asleep. Gotten me into trouble before." Mike nervously chuckled. The statement itself is but a half truth, considering that Vito nor any of his personalities are responsible for such thing. The personality he was referring to before was susceptible to a situation similar to that of Cedric's demonic possession, but it was also impossible considering that he got rid of them long ago.

Just as those watching him had expected, Cody's psyche had continued to amass guilt from the actions Cedric committed while possessing him. Not helping was the plethora of people who blamed him for the demon's tenure of serial murder as The Mad Hatter Killer. Two of his old teammates on the Screaming Gophers noticed his depression and approached.

"You had nothing to do with what Cedric did you know." Cody was disturbed from his deep contemplations, and turned his head to the side to see both Gwen and Leshawna staring at him with pity and understanding.

"Of course I did. If I hadn't put my trust on him 8 years ago, all those people wouldn't have died... Like Tyler's mom and sister." Sadness gripped his tone at the remembrance of the fact that he had indirectly helped Cedric in killing the relatives of his fellow contestant and friend.

Leshawna moved in to help "Shortstuff, you were pressured back then. Cedric pushed the right buttons to trick you like the sneaky jackal of a man he was."

"And it worked. I have no one to blame but myself for falling for his lies."

"It's not like anyone holds it against you." Gwen tried to comfort her friend who merely walked away.

"I wish that were the truth."

"That's weird. Two years ago, the kid would have paid money to be that close to you." Leshawna noted his out of character behavior.

Seeing their confusion, Trent walked up "Well that was before Cedric took control, and you haven't really talked since we visited him and Tyler in the hospital after Cedric died. The guy's practically been celibate since." Unlike most of the cast, Cody had kept in touch with Trent after the Mad Hatter Crisis.

"Is it because of what I did back then?" Gwen asked, still feeling a great measure of guilt for her own actions during the infamous third season.

"No. The kid's just really paranoid about Cedric coming back. He's been getting a lot of harassment about the whole thing, so Cedric getting revived is a pretty big fear of his. Distanced himself from romance in case that kind of thing happens. That included getting over you."

"Man, Shortstuff's got some baggage." Leshawna gave the geek another sympathetic glance as he allowed himself to trail to the back of the team.

"Well, Sierra stalking him probably has something to do with it too. Even with the restraining order, she'd probably tear apart any other girl who got near him."

"That's true." Gwen said remembering how hostile Sierra acted towards her for being the object of Cody's affections "I wish he would actually talk to me though. You'd think we'd still be friends."

"Hey Count Lesbianess! You're at the wrong team!" Jo yelled causing Gwen to sigh and walk up to the Villainous Vultures.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Gwen: "Well this sucks. Besides Geoff and Duncan, I don't have many friends on the villains team. And a lot of my friends on the heroes team aren't on that good terms with me. It's definitely true with Cody. As much as I hate to admit it, we didn't really treat him that well two years ago. And I tried to manipulate him…even if it was technically Cedric and he was actually manipulating me."**

* * *

Heather was very confident she could win this season. She had already planned to run her team by the team by the time the challenge was completed. However this would be easier said than done on a team almost entirely composed of people just as antagonistic as her. And the last time she competed, she was constantly forced to battle with another villain in the game for control.

That is until a new threat came into the game to tear apart their rivalry at the seams. He was quickly eliminated, while she followed only two eliminations old rival was Alejandro, who walked despondently along the path in his speedo. His step no longer held the devious confidence it did two years ago, instead being fearfully reserved.

Deciding to take the opportunity to intimidate her old rival, Heather walked up to Alejandro "Don't think you're going to get very far this time around Al. Your nice guy schtick won't work anymore."

"As much as your competitive flare fascinates and attracts me, I must decline your advances. My only desire is to get off this island." Alejandro said, shocking the Queen Bee.

"What do you mean? Why on earth would you quit?" Heather asked before Alejandro pointed towards Cody "That stick figure? Who would be scared of him?"

"He's pure evil! I've got the scar on my face to prove it!"

"Don't be too bugged, my agent says that a few scars can give your face character." Justin said as he walked by with a group of lovestruck birds following him.

"I think you're just wanting to quit because you don't want to lose before me again." Heather sneered, trying to rile up the Arch Villain's competitive nature.

However all of that old fire had been lost to previous trauma "Believe what you want, but no matter what I don't intend on staying very long." Alejandro walked away, still trying to move as far away from Cody as possible.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Heather: "I don't buy this new Coward-jandro. He's definitely up to something."**

* * *

"So Geoff how are things going with you?" Gwen asked her old friend from Season 1.

"Great. You should've seen the shindig I had before we left. My buds Brody, Lee, and Evan got along great Duncan, DJ, and Bridgette. You should've been there!"

"I've been busy with university and all so…Good thing Chris decided to drag us off during the summer so I'm off."

"So how've things been going with you?" Geoff asked the goth.

"Meh."

"Good meh or bad meh?"

"A little of both. Mostly bad." Gwen sighed "Courtney still hates me, and we're on a team with them." She pointed to a feuding Lightning and Jo.

"I'm pushing the carriage! I'm the strongest person on this team!" Lightning argued with one of his many enemies.

"Of course you are, which is exactly why you got fried last year by the Bubble Boy." Jo said while drawing attention to his electrically bleached hair.

"That game was fixed! Fixed I tell you! That bitch is going down this year. And you too, you creepy Shemale." Lightning proclaimed before backtracking "And for the record, I'm still driving the carriage."

Hearing their conversation, Ezekiel approached "Can I push the carriage eh? I'm really fast!"

"Aren't you that guy from the mine who always gets kicked off first?" Lightning asked.

"Just stay out of our way." Jo brushed Ezekiel off, who responded by sighing in depression.

"Ok I see your point." Geoff said to Gwen with a confused leer pointed towards how they interacted with each other "But hey, at least we can't die this time."

Hearing Geoff's words despite being much further back, Cody sunk down a little more. This resulted in Gwen chastising the party lover "Geoff!"

"Oh crap! Sorry little dude!" Geoff yelled in apology for his insensitive statement and whispered "I'm surprised Sierra isn't bugging the little dude."

"I think Trent is safeguarding him since his restraining order is suspended." Gwen whispered so as to not anger Sierra, before another presence suddenly appeared next to them.

"That would make sense. His aura always shows signs of distress when she gets too close." Gwen and Geoff both felt their heart skip a beat when Dawn snuck up next to them.

"Whoa, Don't sneak up on people like that brah." Geoff said once he gathered his wits.

"Sorry, I noticed that your auras didn't match with a majority of your team, so I came over here to say hello." Dawn explained "I'm Dawn. I played in Season 4."

"Oh yeah, weren't you the girl who got framed by Scott?" Gwen asked.

Dawn's face immediately twisted into a scowl. "Yes. I'd prefer not to be reminded of that scoundrel." Gwen found herself shocked by the uncharacteristic hiss from the usually serene girl.

"Wow. From what I've watched you're usually the one of the peaceful ones in your generation."

"I try to be, but..." Dawn casted an expression of hate towards the ginger-haired vermin that blindsided her, who didn't notice her due to fact he was in front of her. "... I now understand the concept of exceptions"

"I'm usually a friendly guy but I gotta agree with you there brah." Geoff added his two cents in. "Dude's basically a backstabber to his team anyways, so it's pretty justified to hate his guts."

"Yes, which is why I intend on keeping a close eye on him this season." Dawn growled with uncharacteristic "I can see in his aura a lot of ill intents, particularly towards Cody for his connection with the demon Cedric."

Geoff felt his face frown subconsciously. "OK that's so not cool."

"Agreed. He's lucky that Cedric's dead and gone from Cody's body, otherwise..." For a brief moment Gwen held her tongue with the knowledge of what her complete statement would engender. "... He might as well become this season's Alejandro."

Both Geoff and Dawn shuddered at the recollection of the horrid fate that had befallen the Spanish serpent in the previous two seasons, one that even the party animal and the rest of the peanut gallery were horrified to watch.

The moonchild's heart skipped a beat and she felt her body freeze for a second as the party-hard cowboy tried not to vomit over the reminiscence of blood and gore from Cedric's torture-murder of Alejandro.

Their conversation of the brutality that took place during World Tour was immediately cut short when Anne Maria approached Dawn with a glare "Hey Blondie, go screw around witcha o'un team." Upon getting a face full of hairspray, Dawn retreated back to the Hawks.

* * *

A few minutes later, both teams arrived at the top of the cliff where Chris was waiting with black and white baby carriages. "About time you all showed up. Now then, would you please name the ones who will be pushing your carriage." Chris said as he had Chef push the carriages over to their respective teams.

"Owen will be our pusher." Noah stepped up, signaling Chef to hand the carriage to Owen.

"Nice move there. And for the Vultures?" In response to Chris' question several of the Villain's more competitive members glared at each other, only for an enthusiastic Ezekiel to step up.

"I'll do it eh!" Ezekiel literally leapt at the opportunity, causing almost everyone on his team to double take back in horror,

Noticing this shock Chris accepted the offer with a mischievous smirk "So it's Owen and Ezekiel who are pushing? Fine by me. Would you two please go down to the beach to wait for your teammates?"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Jo: "So Homeschool is going to push for us? At least we know who to vote off first now!"**

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 **Ezekiel: "I've gotta prove myself this time eh! Otherwise I'll just be kicked off first again! And I refuse to let that happen."**

* * *

"Now that we've got our runners we can begin the challenge. Each team will send one person at a time to catch a key from down below. And everyone must go according to the line."

"Sha-score! Lightning strikes!" Lightning jumped off the cliff without a second thought, only to find himself surrounded by the sharks "Uh, sha-friends?"

While they heard Lightning's screams as he swam away from the sharks, the Heroes pondered who to send down "Maybe I could bring out Vito and have him fight the sharks?"

"We could send down Cody? He could show those sharks who's boss." Sierra said to which Noah snarked.

"Great idea, then he could lose his other hand." Noah said before turning to Bridgette "You did it first last time, and you're probably the fastest swimmer out of any of us. Think you can do it Bridgette?"

"No problem." Bridgette said anxiously before walking over to the edge of the cliff and letting out an audible gulp "This could be harder than I remembered." Letting her fears go for a brief moment, Bridgette dived into the lake for a key. Luckily for the surfer girl, the sharks were too distracted with Lightning to notice her, and she was easily able to grab a key.

Bridgette ran up to Owen with key in hand and jumped into the carriage "Go Owen go!" In response to her request, Owen charged towards the Lodge at his top speed, with Lightning arriving moments later.

"What are you waiting for eh? They're ahead!" Ezekiel said to Lightning.

"I noticed! Now drive man drive!" Lightning ordered Ezekiel who took off like a cat that had a bucket of water dumped on it at hearing the frustrated athlete's words.

Due to Owen and Ezekiel's low fitness they both made it to the Lodge at around the same time. However while Owen merely stopped, panting on the stairs, Ezekiel had lost control of his speed, causing him and Lightning to crash into a nearby tree.

After making sure Owen was okay, Bridgette inserted the key, only to find it didn't fit "Owen, I think we'll have to go back."

"Please tell me that there'll be water there!" Owen trudged back to the beach, not noticing Lightning angrily chasing Ezekiel behind them.

"I'm sorry eh!"

"Lightning's gonna make you even more sorry!"

* * *

 **Cameron: "I feel sorry for Ezekiel. As Lightning's archenemy I know how painful his wrath can be."**

* * *

Bridgette and Lightning both made their way back up the cliff as fast they possibly could, and tagged back in causing Chris to speak up concerning the results. "Alright campers, here's the deal. Because of how the line works, the next one's to go down should be Trent and Anne Maria." Chris said, causing Cody to audibly gulp at the thought of being left alone at Sierra's mercy.

Seeing his friend's distress Trent placed his hand on Cody's shoulder "No worries. Just avoid Sierra till I get back up and-"

"COOOOOOOOOOODDDYYYYYYYY!" Sierra immediately took her opportunity to get Cody alone by shoving Trent off the cliff and embracing him in a bone crushing hug.

"I really think someone do something." Zoey mumbled nervously as she watched the awkward scene.

"She might rip us to pieces if we tried." Cameron backed away. The small trio then noticed that another more volatile confrontation was going on with the Vultures.

"Have you seen me? There's no way I'm getting my tan washed off." Anne Maria defiantly said before continuing to spray herself down with a tan.

"Does it look like I care. You're jumping even if I make you!" Jo began to push Anne Maria along with Heather, while she violently resisted.

"Don't touch my hair!"

In response to her complaints, Eva stepped in "Move over, bodybuilder coming through." Eva said with intent to lift Anne Maria up, only to get a face full of spray tan "ACH! It tastes like how Ezekiel smells!"

"Hey McLean, we've gotta situation over here." Duncan called Chris over, who walked right up to Anne Maria.

"And will the lady be participating?"

"Yeah right! Let one of the ugly girls do it!" Anne Maria flippantly said, immediately irritating Heather.

"Excuse me?"

"I will allow you to move further down the line, but it will incur a penalty for the person jumping instead." Chris explained before pulling out a familiar hat "Courtney, I believe you're acquainted with El Sombrero del Pollo?"

"What?" Courtney cried in shock "But she's the one refusing to jump, not me!"

Not caring, Chris stuck the chicken hat on Courtney causing Anne Maria to burst out laughing "What do you know? It looks even more ridiculous the second time around." Growling at Jersey Shore Reject, Courtney jumped off the cliff. Trent had quite a few issues with the sharks in the water surrounding him, and barely able to avoid losing a few pieces before making it to shore. However Courtney was easily able to take out the sharks.

"Hurry Trent!" Owen cried to the guitarist who leapt into the baby carriage, allowing the much larger man to charge forward.

Courtney arrived at Ezekiel's station shortly after "GO! GO! GO!" Ezekiel once again took off like a bat out of hell, which backfired when he stepped on a large fire ant mound.

While the homeschooled boy's screams of pain echoed from below, Cody was being put through a whole different kind of pain by Sierra "I'm soon happy to see you again. Now we can take care of our blossoming romance that was put on hold because of that mean ol' Cedric." Sierra squeaked out as she gripped Cody tighter and tighter.

"We were never…"Cody tried to say, only for his stalker's grip to become to tight for him to speak.

"Silly Cody."

Feeling sympathy for their fellow bandmate, Harold and Justin saw it fit to distract his obsessive admirer. Giving each other a quick nod of understanding, the Dweeb and the Male Model walked past Sierra, who was still using Cody as a makeshift squeeze toy, before changing to what appeared to be poorly made disguises based of Cedric's appearance. These came complete with insulting masks of The Mad Hatter which either had him with a stupid face and drooling, or him with buckteeth and a mullet.

"We, I mean I have come to take all the World of the Living's souls!" Justin spoke with a very bad British accent, which sounded more Jamaican than it did Cedric's cockney voice.

"Bow before our, I mean my might!" Harold yelled in an accent that vaguely sounded German "Big Ben, bloody pudding, King Henry VII!"

"Cedric!" Sierra growled at Harold and Justin, completely and utterly fooled by their terrible disguises. They immediately ran in the opposite direction when the fangirl turned hostile, causing her to drop Cody and give chase to them "Don't worry Codykins, I'll get vengeance for you! Get back here you filthy Cody impersonators!"

Cody was sent stumbling back, arms waving with losing balance and finally fell on someone behind him. He and that someone landed with a grunt into the ground, he turned and discovered who it was that he fell on. "Oh." embarrassed, Cody got up and offered his prosthetic hand to the fallen girl. "Sorry about that."

"No worries. It was accidental" Dawn replied with a reassuring smile as she dusted herself. However having supernatural powers of her own, Dawn sensed a faint aura of evil coming from the talisman Cody had been using as a makeshift prosthetic. Fearing of something with the gauntlet, Dawn tried to shrug it off by reasoning with herself that it was a result of being used by a demon previously that left the evil aura behind.

Seeing her distress, Cody looked down onto where his hand used to be and figured out why she seemed frightened "You're afraid of my gauntlet aren't you? I can't say I blame you all that much. I'm just the one who has to keep tabs on it so it can't cause the World of the Living anymore trouble."

"Oh nothing's wrong! I was just examining it to make sure that nothing was suspicious!" Dawn came up with an excuse for her staring. Before their conversation could continue any further, they both heard the loud revving of a chainsaw, and they turned around to see Sierra had chased Justin and Harold up a tree, which she attempting to cut down with a chainsaw.

"Where did she get a chainsaw?!"

"Why are you asking me?!"

"I better go save them before she does something even crazier." Cody said to the small blonde girl, before running off "See you later!"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Dawn: "I'm not sure what that evil aura around the talisman means quite yet, but I'll have to do some investigating into it before anything else. On the** **bright side though, Cody seems nice. I just wish his aura wasn't so unstable from all of his anxieties."**

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 **Cody: "So Dawn is pretty cute, but I'm not going to make a big deal out of it. I came on way too strong with Gwen both times and I totally wrecked my chances with her. Besides, I've sworn off any romance whatsoever, after World Tour. It's just not in the cards with the Mad Hatter Crisis and Sierra to worry about. I'm just happy Justin and Harold saved me from her while Trent was out. You guys are the best!"**

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 **Justin: "What can I say, us Drama Brothers stick together. They really helped me get myself together after the disaster for my looks that happened in Total Drama Action. Besides, back home in Haleiwa I had about a hundred Sierras, so I can take one for the team.**

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 **Harold: "After the Mad Hatter Crisis, Cody's got enough to worry about without Sierra bugging him. So I'd be happy to loan him my mad skills in case of an emergency."**

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 **Sierra: "I've got my eye on that Dawn girl; she's getting way too close to my Codykins, and I'm not letting him get away from me this time. We never got together for real in Season 3, so I'm sure our romance will blossom this year! Especially without that nasty Australian** **jerk face making Cody do such terrible things this time! Wherever Cedric went after he died, he better stay there!"**

* * *

"The key didn't work! We need to send someone else down!" Trent told them as he ran back up the side of the cliff where the rest of his team waited for him "Who's the next person in line after me?"

"I'm up next! Wish me luck!" Mike gave Zoey a quick kiss on the cheek and high-fived Cameron before jumping off the edge of the cliff and into the shark infested waters. After making a splash onto the water, he took off his shirt to transform into Vito but was surprised to find no change "That's weird, normally he's out when I pull that trigger."

Shortly after realizing this, Mike took in a large breath of air before his personality switched to that of Chester "Where the hell am I! This water's too cold! I'm gonna catch my death in here!" The old man then realized that he was in shark infested waters when one gave him a tap to the shoulder before giving chase to him in the water. In the meantime, the Vultures still hadn't sent anyone down yet due to further conflict about how the line was ordered once Courtney made it back up.

"Alright I'm next! Hope you'll enjoy the luxury life in the winner's cabin, because that's what I'm bringing!" Jo said as she stretched herself in preparation to jump, only to be interrupted by Chris.

"Not so fast Vultures, Anne Maria still hasn't gone yet so she's technically still at the front of the line. So that means she has to go before you, unless she opts out again." Chris told the competitive girl before facing Anne Maria again "That means you're up!"

"Have you seen my hair? I don't think so!" Anne Maria brushed off the host once again. In response to this refusal, Chris immediately pulled out a chicken hat from his pocket.

"That means you're up instead Jo! But this means you'll have to wear the chicken hat just like Courtney."

"No way! There's no way I'm a chicken!" Jo growled as Chris forced the chicken hat onto her head, which managed to make her incredibly mad. This anger only increased when she heard Anne Maria and Lightning's obnoxious laughter that had been directed towards her; as a result Jo took off the chicken hat with intent to toss it on the ground "I'm not wearing this stupid thing!"

Before she could toss the humiliating punishment to the ground, Chris stopped her "Not so fast Jo! If anyone sentenced to the chicken hat tries to get rid of it for the rest of the day, then their team will automatically be disqualified from the challenge and face elimination." Upon hearing his warning, Jo begrudgingly placed the hat back on before jumping off the cliff and into the shark infested waters below. Mike having already finished the challenge with limited results, ran up to a clearly very tired Owen.

"...Why...did...you...turn...into...Chester?" Owen asked his teammate in between his pants.

"I don't know; I was trying to let Vito take the reigns but he was a no-show!" Mike explained to Owen, before he heard Jo's frantic stomps on the sand behind him "We've got company big guy! Let's move!"

Ezekiel watched the lethargic Owen race off along with a severely confused Mike, and felt sweat dripping down his face, fearing that he would be sent home first if the Villainous Vultures lost. The fear briefly subsided itself when Jo leapt into the baby carriage and began barking orders "What are you waiting for Homeschool? MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"

"Alright, alright!" Ezekiel panicked and took off like a bat out of hell away from the shore.

* * *

While Mike pondered what had happened to cause Vito's sudden failure to appear properly, it actually occurred not long ago when Cedric and Mal set their plan in motion inside of his subconscious. Ever since Mike officially took control of their shared existence, the mind had become a much more ordered location for the pieces making up their soul to coexist. Currently, Vito, Svetlana, Chester, and Manitoba Smith sat together in the waiting area where the personalities not in control conversed with each other.

"So that's why the Stars don't stand a chance against the Canucks." Chester voiced his argument to the other personalities, who seemed relatively disinterested with the exception of Vito.

"Never really pegged you as much of a hockey fan Gramps."

"Please, back in my day I ruled the ice! Glacier Cutter Doran is what they called me." The elderly personality boasted of his past achievements before taking another sip of the tea they'd had set out on the table "I wonder when we're going to summoned again. I know we each get about 30 minutes a turn even without those kerfuffle challenges."

"Probably won't be long with Mike back in the game." Manitoba Smith grinned as he leaned back in his chair before he felt a cold chill run down his spine "Oy mates, is it getting colder in here or is it just me?"

"Now zat you mention it, ze air has gotten colder in here. You don't think _he's_ coming back, do you?" Svetlana voiced her concerns before the center of the table suddenly erupted into a circle of black flames, from which a figure emerged from "It is the Malevolent One!"

"Worse! It's the Mad Hatter Killer!" Manitoba Smith immediately recognized the figure from his wool collar jacket and silk hat, which was confirmed when he saw the demon's messy brown hair, piercing crimson eyes, and pointed shark like teeth.

"Honestly, I'm rather offended you'd mistake for a fuddy duddy like Mikey. I'm much more exciting than that old tightwad is!" Cedric said as he suddenly made a pair of skulls appear from nowhere, and proceeded to nonchalantly juggle them "Glad to see his entire family together for a big reunion of arseholes! Well, except for Lack of Personality Disorder that is. Or is his name Mikey? I always seem to get them mixed up."

"Hey Manitoba, this guy's got a British accent just like you!" Chester pointed this out.

"Oy! He's a Brit and I'm and Aussie!" Manitoba growled, clearly annoyed with the old man mixing up his nationality before turning his attention back to Cedric "What are you doing here you wanker?"

"It's a long and deadly story bugger. Ninja of Santoryu got stuck on hiatus till next January so I figured while I had a bit of spare time to kill, I'd come back to this story for a little fun. And by fun I mean, REVENGE!...oh and chocolate, but mostly revenge. And Mikey-boy told me rounding up you group of tossers is a one way ticket to it." Cedric gave them his signature evil grin before realizing something "Actually wait, my adventures in Ninja of Santoryu are supposed to be after this story and another one I've got planned in the continuity. Just forget I said anything!"

"Screw that, let's rumble Captain Pinkeye!" Vito threatened the demon as he stood up from his chair and cracked his knuckles. Cedric burst out laughing at his words before glaring at the party animal personality.

"Let's see how well that ends for you and your merry band of soul fragments." Cedric said before speeding off in the other direction "Try to catch me slags!"

"Get him!" Chester yelled and pointed at the demon while the other personalities gave him chase, only for the old man to sit right back down "You go get him, I'll just be here in case Mike calls us up…Wait, who were we chasing again?"

Manitoba, Vito, and Svetlana chased Cedric throughout the mind, only ending when Cedric entered a certain door which caused the personalities to stop dead in their tracks. Only Vito continued further "Hey, aren't you coming?"

"Don't think so mate; that used to belong to The Malevolent One! And this whole situation reeks just like him." Manitoba explained himself.

"What if ze Mad Hatter Killer is still dead, and zis is all an illusion made to fool us?" Svetlana theorized which caused both Manitoba Smith and Vito to freeze in their tracks. But before they could make another move, the door to Mal's old room suddenly slammed open and several tendrils of shadows shot out from the dark room. They wrapped themselves around the closest personality, that being Vito, before dragging him inside.

"What the hell is going on here?! Let go of me you chumps! Let-" Vito was cut off when the door suddenly slammed itself shut. Manitoba and Svetlana briefly had a look of horror on their faces upon seeing Vito dragged into the unknown, only for their faces to turn blank as their eyes flashed purple for a moment.

"So what are doing at the Malevolent One's old room again?" Manitoba asked the gymnast personality, remembering none of what had just occurred.

* * *

"Come on Homeschool! Move it!" Jo yelled at Ezekiel who had gotten into yet another accident by tripping over a tree root, which allowed Mike and a heavily exhausted Owen to catch up to them. This only made her even more irritated with Ezekiel's poor performance thus far "I'm not losing this challenge because of you."

"I'm sorry eh. We're almost there." Ezekiel got Jo up to the door, only to find that the key didn't fit and that they'd have to go back.

"Seriously! How many keys are there?"

The Vultures sped past Mike and Owen, the latter of whom was incredibly exhausted as a result of his lack of physical fitness that was required for the challenge "Come on Owen move! We've gotta catch up to them!"

"I'm trying my hardest...It's not easy running back and forth while moving three people around." Owen trudged further down the path that led back to the cliff "How much further do we have to move."

"Um..." Mike pointed back to the lodge to show his overweight teammate that they had only walked a few feet away, causing him to groan in exhaustion. Cameron saw his from technologically modified glasses, and began to panic.

"Ezekiel and Jo are in the lead! What do we do!" Cameron yelled to the other members of his team, causing the Villanous Vultures to cheer in joy.

Upon hearing this from Cameron, Brick faced Noah and asked of him "Commander Noah, do you have any idea what we should do?"

"Relax Brickhouse, I anticipated something like this when I put Owen in charge of manning the stroller. It's important to always have an ace in the hole." Noah proceeded to pull a bag of BBQ chips, and tear them open. Normally this wouldn't result in much of a difference for most people.

However Owen had a superb sense of smell when it came to just about every food known to man, and smelled the flavoring from miles away "Is that BBQ flavor up there? Now you're speaking my language Noah! Game on!"

"Yes, things are looking up!" Mike cheered as he and Owen sped past Jo and Ezekiel, much to the fury of the latter.

"What are you doing homeschool?! That guy has legs shorter than Tyrion Lannister and you just let him catch up to us!"

"I'm sorry. But you can't between Owen and food very easily eh!" Ezekiel said as he futilely tried to catch up to the rampaging Owen. And in the process he ended up tripping over his own feet once again, resulting in him losing track of the now runaway stroller "Oh crap! No no no no no!"

Just as Noah had predicted, Owen made it back to the cliff within a matter of minutes, resulting in him receiving the bag of chips and a bottle of water which were tossed down by the former. In the meantime Mike easily made it back up.

"We didn't get the right key, but lost the Vultures so I think we're okay!" Mike told his team.

However before the challenge could continue, Heather had a loud complaint "Hey! No way that wasn't cheating! They just interfered with the race!"

"Oh really? I don't recall you having any objections to that method when you used it to help Owen win in Season One." Trent smugly pointed out to the Queen Bee, who tried to continue her objections, only for Chris to intervene with the arguement.

"Trent's right, if it wasn't cheating then it ain't cheating now." Chris stated to Heather's irritation only to hear another ruckus down at the bottom of the cliff "Now what would we have hear?"

When Ezekiel lost control of his stroller, it proceeded to go down a nearby hill and speed right into a nearby log that not only sent Jo flying but also totaled the stroller. As a result of Jo was beating Ezekiel with whatever parts were left "You idiot! Now how are we supposed to complete the challenge!"

After giving a devious laugh at this sight, Chris grabbed a bullhorn from Chef and yelled down to Jo and Ezekiel "You know, you can still complete the challenge even if your stroller is totaled. Ezekiel will just have to carry you piggyback style for the rest of the challenge."

Upon hearing this, Jo rolled her eyes before forcing Ezekiel to crouch down and run to cliff with her on his back. When they got to cliff, Jo made a mad dash up where the rest of the players were waiting "We've gotta send someone else down. Anne Maria, you're up!"

"That's right Jo." Chris said to the Vulture before turning to face a still indifferent Anne Maria "Since you've skipped out on the last jumps, I highly recommend that you do this time."

"Um hello, international TV! I'll get my hair wet!" Anne Maria once again refused to do the challenge to the ire of her teammates.

Sighing in annoyance, Chris turned to face Izzy and pulled out a chicken hat "Izzy since-" Unlike the others who'd jumped thus far, Izzy enthusiastically grabbed the chicken hat from Chris and made a jump off the cliff and into the shark-infested waters.

"Man, that girl is nuttier than a jar of crunchy peanut butter. Brick, I think you're up next." Noah said to the cadet who responded by saluting him.

"I'll do my best for the squad's honor Commander Noah!" Brick said to Noah before he jumped off, only to realize what he just did and begin screaming about half way down. In the meantime Izzy had easily taken out the sharks that were in the water, and grabbed a key.

"Good luck next life you cartilaginous wimps!" Izzy mocked the defeated sea predators while twirling her finger around the key only for her to notice Brick falling from above. Upon seeing the Cadet, a typical sly grin spread across her face "Oh wow, me likey."

Izzy quickly found that she should have moved out of the way, as Brick landed on top of her, knocking them both back under the water. Izzy arose from the lake a few minutes later, walking onto the beach with Brick in her arms "Hello there handsome, I'm Izzy."

"Um I'm Brick." Brick bashfully introduced himself to the crazed girl, before coughing up one of the keys that were left in the water "Mission accomplished."

It was at this point that Izzy dropped him and ran towards Ezekiel, jumping on his back and excitedly yelling at him "Come on Zekey! Let's move! MOVE!"

"Ok, I'm moving eh!" Ezekiel ran as fast as he could with Izzy on his back, only to find that Brick and Owen were easily surpassing them due to Owen's brute strength and rejuvenated energy. However this served to motivate Ezekiel further, as he proceeded to rip of his jacket and sprint towards the Lodge "I'm not going home first again!"

When they saw Ezekiel and Izzy move past them, Owen and Brock looked incredibly confused as to what exactly was happening "What am I looking at?"

"Why did he take his shirt off exactly?"

Upon seeing the Lodge come into view, Ezekiel kicked his body into overdrive with Owen moving close behind him. Once his foot connected with the stairs, Ezekiel took the key from Izzy and ran towards the door in an attempt to unlock it. To his surprise and glee, the key fit and unlocked the door.

"Looks like Ezekiel and Izzy have pulled out a dark horse victory for the Villainous Vultures!" Chris said after looking at the end of the challenge, causing the Vultures to break out in cheers while the Hawks merely groaned in frustration. However Chris had another announcement "Unfortunately Izzy was the one who was supposed to unlock the door, not Ezekiel. That means that the Heroic Hawks are today's big winners! Vultures, I'll see you at elimination."

The Heroes broke into their own set of cheers, a majority of the Villains glared down Ezekiel. Only Lightning spoke up, growling in a low tone "Great job Zeke. Now you can go for three!" Upon seeing their glares, Ezekiel went into a fetal position while Izzy played Taps on a bugle she somehow picked up.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Lightning: "That homeschooled wimp cost us the challenge! Now he's gonna get struck by Lightning! Shabam!"**

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 **Anne Maria: "I think Zekiel should go home first again. If he keeps screwing up on the first challenges he won't be to useful later on."**

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 **Heather: I'm voting for Alejandro. He's up to something big, I can feel it!"**

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 **Duncan: "Anne Maria's gotta go. We're better off without someone who didn't even try at the challenge."**

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 **Alejandro: "I'm voting myself off. At least at Playa de Losers I'll be able to stay far away from that Mad Hatter!"**

* * *

Later that day once night had begun to fall, the Villainous Vultures were sitting in the new elimination area for the new season that was designed very much like an old domed Roman Congress complete with pearly white walls and furniture. The benches on which the team sat were aligned in a circle that surrounded Chris, who was dressed in a Roman Emperor costume and holding a plate of marshmallows. On his left was a large fire pit which had a large red crystal hanging by seven chains above it; and on his right was Chef who was now wearing his Grim Reaper uniform, complete with his ragged black cloak and skull shaped mask.

"What's with the new place? What happened to the bonfire?" Dakota asked.

"To make a long story short, when Chris tossed Zoey's Toxic Marshmallow of Loserdom into the campfire last year it kind of made the area uninhabitable. So we built this new place on top of it with some radiation protection."

Chris then pressed a remote than somehow caused the red crystal to open and drop several stars with the Vultures pictures taped on to drop, only avoiding a fall into the fire from the chain holding it up "What with you being all stars and all, these stars will represent your life in the game. If you get axed, your star will be dropped into the fire and you'll have to leave Camp Wawankwa. And you can't ever come back. Ever! And this time I mean it! Otherwise the rules remain the same concerning the Marshmallow ceremony."

"Get on with it!" Eva growled at the host.

"Alright yeesh." Chris rolled his eyes before began passing out the marshmallows "The first marshmallow goes to…Geoff."

"Yeah!" Geoff cheered as he received the snack.

"Next, Jo, Izzy, and Lightning, you're also safe." Chris tossed them their marshmallows before continuing "Eva, Scott, Gwen, and Heather."

"Ha! Jealous?" Heather smugly rubbed her immunity in Alejandro's face.

"Hardly."

"Courtney, Duncan, Dakota, Justin, and Alejandro." Chris gave out more results, only for the scarred latino to break out into a frustrated scream "Okaaaaaay…Ezekiel, Anne Maria, this is the final marshmallow of the evening." Chris announced to the bottom two. Ezekiel was visibly trembling and breaking out into a cold sweat at the thought of getting last place for the third time in a row, while Anne Maria seemed rather confident.

...

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...

...

...

"Ezekiel!" Chris announced to the shock of them both.

"Huh?"

"What? There's gotta be a mistake, there's no way _he_ got less votes than me!" Anne Maria loudly objected to Chris, who didn't really seem to care.

"Actually, I'm afraid he did. Zeke stays, you go!" Chris informed the angry Jersey Wanabee, before he pressed the button which caused the chain holding up Anne Maria's star to break and fall into the firepit, officially eliminating her.

"Whatever, where's the stupid catapult?" Anne Maria looked around the chamber for the exit.

"There is none this year, they took it away for radioactive disinfection. So to celebrate your all star statuses, we've developed custom eliminations for each of you!" Chris said before pressing yet another button on his remote "Speaking of which, it's time you take your leave into the Colosseum of Losers."

After giving Anne Maria a thumbs down near his throat, a dog chain suddenly shot out and grabbed her by the neck, before pulling her into another room. Then, a monitor in the room turned on to show Anne Maria having been chained to a post.

 _Elimination: Tanorexic Nervosa_

Several industrial sized cannisters of what appeared to spray tan emerged from the railing and began spraying while they orbitted Anne Maria at a rapid pace "What the hell is this? Make it stop! Make it stop!"

"Is she going to be okay?" Dakota asked, with visible concern on her face.

"Nobody should ever be wearing that much spray tan. You'd be too stiff to move!" Justin also pointed out, which got him some weird looks from the other players.

"Don't worry, the spray tan will wash off with enough water." Chris informed them while the as the can's orbit began to slow while their contents began to empty. When they slowed to a stop, Anne Maria's body had been stiffened to the point where she looked like an orange statue.

 _"'ll gt y fr ths McCln!"_ Anne Maria tried to speak through her petrified mouth, only for the chains to fall and a hole to drop in the floor, which sent Anne Maria tumbling down into the darkness and presumably off the island.

All the while the Villainous Vultures looked on in fear "Yeah, pretty nasty right? Gives the rest of you a good excuse not to get voted off though. Vultures, the rest of you are safe…For tonight." Chris said with a smile before pressing another of many buttons on his remotes that caused the stars to retract back into the crystal, and the crystal to retract in the ceiling.

* * *

Later that night, both teams went to sleep for their first night back on the island. Much like the first season, there would be a two day interim between the challenges. So the contestants knew that it would be smart to get rest while they could before whatever torment Chris had in store for them. However something would be occurring during that rest, as several of the Vultures had the same dream.

Namely, finding themselves on an old dusty road in the middle of the woods, that led to a bar named Bloody Jackal. One of those who found themselves in this position was Scott "Is this one of those things they call lucid dreams or something?" Scott proceeded to try and control his environment, with little results. Not knowing what else to do, he decided to approach the small bar.

When he walked inside, he found a red bar with an assortment of high quality alcohol and a grand piano in the middle of the room, along with a filled up bookshelf off to the side. What caught his eye the most were the six paintings besides the bar, most of which were just an empty canvas. However two had figures painted on, one that reminded him of Mike's personality Vito screaming in agony, and another that was shadowed and grinning a gapped smile while standing on flames that appeared to be moving.

Due to his personal vendetta with Mike, Scott pulled out a marker and proceeded to vandalize Vito's portrait. This got a response from someone else who'd been sitting in the room "Real mature Dirtboy!" Heather scoffed at Scott's behavior.

He turned around to find that three of his teammates were sitting at the bar nearby: Eva, Jo, and Heather "Like you haven't done to same to Gwen or Leshawna. I guess it doesn't really though since you're just a dream anyways."

"Who are you calling a dream? If anything you're the dream!" Eva growled in Scott's face, causing him to stumble back in terror "Besides, if this were a dream, I wouldn't be next to this scum sucking, backstabbing witch anyways."

"Hey!"

"I feel you there sister. I'm just happy that Lightning for Brains isn't here." Jo rested against the bar stool at ease, only to Lightning to crash through the entrance of the bar.

"Lightning strikes! Hello ladies." Lightning said to the others before glaring at Jo "And Jo."

"Hey!" Jo and Scott both said simultaneously in a noticeably offended tone.

"So where are we anyways? Is this like a dream or something?"

In response to Lightning's question, Eva glared at Heather for a moment for grabbing onto her long dark hair and giving it a hard pull, to which she cried out in annoyed pain "Nope, if the witch here can feel pain then it can't be a dream. Maybe it has something to do with Chris." Eva got numerous murmurs of agreement for her suggestion, only for the faint sound of rattling chains to come from behind the bartender's side door.

The door slowly creaked open while a familiar voice sprouted from the other side "I'm afraid McDoorknob has nothing to do with this loves. I'd actually prefer he and his Reaper pen pal don't get wind of what our plans are. But that's not really all that important right now is it?" While those in the second generation seemed a bit confused as to who this was, both Eva and Heather immediately recognized the voice and froze in horror. The man then opened the door to reveal himself to be the imprisoned Cedric von Túfeice.

"'Ello my duckies, welcome to my new home, the Bloody Jackal Bar! And welcome to the Axis of Malevolence!"

* * *

 **(A/N): Hello new readers and welcome back old ones, to the sequel to Voodoo's Disciple's rewrite, Malevolence! For those of you who are very confused, this story is indeed a direct sequel to a story of mine that I completed last year, so it relies heavily on its continuity. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend you do so in order for this story to make a lick of sense to you. Now then, back to those who read the original, that story was a rewrite of my least favorite season, Total Drama World Tour. So I figured for the sequel it'd only be right to do one for the season everyone else seems to hate the most (and for very good reason) Total Drama All Stars. As you can imagine, having over 30 characters to develop in one story will be quite difficult, so it may take me sometime to do updates depending on what changes I make to my original outline of the story. But if you get bored of waiting, stop by and read Lord NV's stories Total Drama Eden and Voodoo's Disciple: Peanut Gallery for some good reads that will tide you over till the next update. Speaking of Lord NV, I have to thank him for the help he's given me in writing this chapter and I hope that he enjoys the final version. And in case you didn't pick this up in the summary, the story will be rated T for a short while, before it gains the original story's M rating when the darkness and gore shoots up several levels.**

 **Please give this story a quick review, and if you enjoy what you've read, add it to your alerts and favorites for more to come later on.**

 **. . .**


	2. The King's Court

**Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama. If I did, then there would actually something different and entertaining with the franchise instead of Muppet Babies-I mean Tom and Jerry Kids- I ****mean the Flintstone Kids-I mean Total Drama Daycare.**

 **Chapter 2: The King's Court**

* * *

"'Ello my duckies, welcome to my new home, the Bloody Jackal Bar! And welcome to the Axis of Malevolence." Cedric said as he walked through the back of the bar, gleefully observing the shocked looks of his audience "Guess who's back bitches! The sexiest man undead, Cedric von Túfeice at your service."

"NO WAY!" Lightning gaped at the sight of the demon before turning to Scott and asking "Who is this guy again?"

"The Mad Hatter Killer." Scott blanched in a monotone voice upon seeing the supposedly dead serial killer. Meanwhile Heather and Eva seemed paralyzed with a mixture of both shock and fear, both having interacted with Cedric previously and having an idea of what he was capable of. Having his own suspicions as to what were going on, Scott growled "I know what's going here! You're working with the demon wimp or something aren't you?"

In response to the mention of Cody, Cedric glared down the dirt farmer before suddenly slapping a card onto his forehead "Beanpole can't know about me being here, he'd just fuck everything up. In the meantime, here are some souvenirs. You'll all be needing these for what's to come." Cedric passed out similar cards to the others who were there, before making it over to Eva, who almost immediately took the chance to snap his neck.

"What the heck girl?" Lightning said in shock, still having no idea what was going on.

"I just saved our asses you idiot. That lunatic probably would have killed us all if he'd gotten the chance." Eva looked down at the corpse, only for him to easily heal from what would have normally been a fatal injury and get right back up with only slight trouble.

"Bloody hell, that was not cool you arsehole! Honestly, is that how you treat all of your hosts Shemale?" Cedric as he cracked his neck and sat down at one of the bar stools, surprising those who weren't familiar with his immortality.

Namely Lightning "Wait a second, how are you alive if she just snapped your neck? Are you a vampire or something?"

In response to Lightning's question, Cedric rolled his crimson eyes and spread out a solitaire deck on the bar "It's funny you'd mention vampires judging from where we had this bar built Rudy. But to answer your question, no I'm not a vampire, I'm a demon. I survived that little love tap from the Brawny Man's slag over there thanks to fact that this is a separate plane of existence revolving around dark matter. And since my demonic soul is just the most powerful thing in the plane, I can warp it just about anyway I please. Like this!"

Cedric proceeded to snap his fingers and the area around Eva warped her into a ballerina's leotard and tutu, before she was suddenly forced to begin dancing in place "What's happening to me? Make it stop!"

"That is what I refer to as a Class C punishment for those invited into my bar, which is distributed to those who show insubordination or don't really listen to me in general." Cedric explained while the others watched Eva's forced dance recital in amusement "There are also Class B and A punishments for higher offenses, but we'll get to those as they come. After all, an alliance needs rules from the ground up to ensure that it functions properly. You would know all about that wouldn't you Sloth?"

"Now wait just a minute here, what makes you think for any reason that I would be in an alliance with you at all, much less as the leader Hell Breath?" Heather got up into the face of the demon, only to recoil in fear when he gave her a menacing toothy grin.

"That's not the question you should be asking. It should be how the hell you're even here? Didn't Baron Samedi eat you or something?" Jo asked the Mad Hatter's, who's grin shifted into an annoyed scowl at the mere thought of his defeat.

"He did, as you can see from my old uniform back when I was damned in Hell. The only reason I'm even here is because I had someone cosign on my loan after the fact." Cedric showed off the chains that were constricting his arms and legs "Unfortunate side effect is that I'm incapable of retaining a physical form and I can't leave the bar until I find a way to get these stupid chains off. So I'm making you an offer than you can't refuse! Unless you want to be put in the industrial sized Easy-Bake oven I got on HellMazon!"

"So we've basically gotta be your flying monkeys, or we die?" Heather rolled her eyes at the demon.

"Pretty much. But there's a lot more to it then just that Sloth!" Cedric said while continuing to play out his game of solitaire before looking up at his captives "All of you have quite a bit to gain from investing in this business venture. McBacon may have snubbed me for this season, but I can still use my All Star status to influence this sideshow plenty. I could easily put each human in this room in the final five. Then we would just have to see what happens."

"And what would you have to gain by leading this?" Eva asked Cedric, having dealt with Cedric in the past and knowing that he wouldn't make any move in the game unless it benefited him or his twisted ideals.

"Quite a bit of things that mere humans wouldn't understand. However, there seems to be a small misunderstanding as to who's in charge around here. I'm merely the face of this alliance, but its leader just so happens to be my cosigner. The Malevolent One!" Cedric pointed to the painting of a darkened silhouette nearby, who suddenly waved inside its canvas "We met awhile back. Since my old plan of using Baron Samedi's veve has failed now that I've lost my powers, his plan is the next best thing."

Suddenly, Cedric jumped up onto the bar and looked down on the group "See where I'm going with this? I'm the greatest player this pathetic little circus of hormones and archetypes has ever seen, teamed up with yet another being who's power is beyond the scope of your imagination! So how would agreeing to team up with me be a foolish idea? And that's not all! This limited time offer also comes with the added bonus that I won't lay a skin cell on that luggage case of paper you all want so badly. Any questions?

"Uh yeah, since when are you the greatest player in the game?" Heather angrily asked the demon.

"Since I kicked Greed's arse, your arse, Wrath's arse, and Metallica's arse!"

"And then you got beat by that little runt Cody. Your about as threatening as-" Heather tried to refute his claims, only to suddenly find herself grabbed by the neck and pinned to the wall by an infuriated Cedric.

"New rule, mentioning that plan wrecking tosser in my presence ever again is automatically a Class A crime. And believe me when I say you do not want to know the penalty that comes with it!" Cedric growled just loud enough for the others to hear, before dropping the shuddering Queen Bee to the ground in a fetal position "Now that we're all on the same page, I believe it's time to hand out your assignments for the time being."

"Which are?" Jo said suspiciously, while also trying to avoid upsetting the demon in anyway.

"Take out our enemies with ruthless efficiency. If they can be eliminated before me and the Malevolent One move forward with what we have intended, things will go that much more smoothly for all of us. Oh and eliminate Envy too. Mostly cause I don't like her." Cedric snapped his fingers, somehow causing the exit door to fly open "Enjoy your trip back to consciousness my duckies. You have plenty of time to prepare for the challenges to come, but don't tell anyone I still exist on this plane, especially Beanpole! And do keep aware of any threats lurking in the woods. An axe murder occurred on these grounds back in the 20s, and I need you all breathing."

The members of the newly christened Axis of Malevolence made there way out the door and back into the darkened woods of the outside, only for the door to suddenly slam shut right before Scott could leave "What the-" Scott backed away from the door, only to freeze up like a statue when he felt Cedric put his arm around him.

"You don't get to leave us just yet Body Odor! We have some more to discuss. And please do try to avoid pissing yourself, it's rather unflattering."

"w-What do you want from-"

"Tell me, you find Wrath to be rather attractive don't you? Not that I would know, being as I fly the asexual flag and all, but I understand she has a thing for winners. Keep winning challenges for the Axis, and that just might catch her eye. _Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuusssssst!"_ Cedric whispered in Scott's ear with an intoxicating tone, causing Scott's eyes to to briefly glow red before he slowly began to sway out the now open exit. Before he was out of earshot though, Cedric yelled at him "I need you to pass on something I forgot! There's a guy you know well, Italian-Canadian with spiky hair and multiple personalities! He's vital to our plans, so don't touch him. And don't you dare discuss me in front of the confessionals! Not even McSlushie can know I'm still around!"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Scott: "Well this is just great. The first chance I get to be in an ironclad alliance, and I learn that I can't even take out that pointy headed geek. But on the other hand, Zoey and the demon wimp are still very up for grabs!"**

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 **Jo: "So it looks like I'll be rocking an alliance from here on in. I was already planning on taking charge of the team, but this just made it that much easier. I just hope the other peons know who's really going to be the boss here. Especially Lintbrain Lightning."**

* * *

On the eve of the competition's second challenge, the all stars continued to enjoy or detest the spoils of their efforts as the sun departed from the Canadian horizon. At the moment the Vultures were struggling to get rest in the cabin that had previously belonged to the Killer Bass and Toxic Rats in the past. After five years since their already worn down usage in the first season, the cabin's condition had only further degraded.

The once barely functioning A/C now didn't function at all, the walls had thinned down, and bugs infested the corners and floors of each side. As a result, the losing team got every bit of misery Chris had intended for them. Not helping was the sounds of enjoyment of the Heroes in the nearby Victory Lodge coming through the air, frustrating those in the lower quality cabin even more "This blows! How are we supposed to sleep on these!"

"No need to complain bro. We've all slept on these beds before besides Ezekiel and Al, and we can do it again." Geoff gestured to the young men, the latter of whom was having trouble sleeping. Actually, to say that would be a massive understatement, as Alejandro was shaking on his bunk in a fetal position.

"Can't sleep. Can't sleep. Can't sleep. Not with him only a few yards away! He'll sneak in and kill me all over again. I know it!"

Feeling some sympathy for the latin liar, Geoff got up from his bunk and walked to Alejandro "Dude, I know what happened to you was so harsh, harsh isn't even a good word describe it. But you don't need to worry, Cedric's been gone for years now. He may still be bugging you in the noggin, but there's like no chance he can do it again physically."

"But I know he's there! Every time I close my eyes, all I can see is him. Those cold red eyes! Those pointed teeth! That fez hat and those chains!" Alejandro said with fear evident in his voice, breathing heavier and speaking louder with every sentence, before breaking out in a panic attack "I CAN'T TAKE IT! I GOTTA GET OUT OF!—"

Before Alejandro could do anything else, Justin took the initiative to splash a glass of water in his scarred face "Calm down man. Cedric is dead, and he's not coming back."

"I can't help it. There's still so many things wrong!"

"Is one of those things you keeping us up? Go to sleep you frickin' wimp!" Scott irritably said to Alejandro, gaining a glare from his teammates.

Being annoyed by Alejandro's panicking along with the uncomfortable beds, Lightning snapped at him as well "Yeah, how I'm I supposed to be the MVP of tomorrow's game if you keep me up all night? And how did you know that vampire changed his clothes? Only me and Scott saw him!" Upon saying this, Scott kicked the bottom of Lightning's bunk to silence him from speaking of the Axis.

"What was that?" Justin caught the implications almost immediately.

"All that muscle must be seeping into your brain Lightning! Cedric never changed his clothes back in World Tour!" Scott tried to assuage any suspicions Lightning's statement might have gathered.

As one can expect, this conversation did little to calm Alejandro's nerves as he became more and more distressed. Seeing this, Geoff spoke up again "Okay look, you're afraid of Cedric coming in and hacking you up in the middle of the night right? Well, I'll just stay on guard all night and make sure he doesn't. If I see anything suspicious, I'll wake everyone up, kay?"

"You can borrow my NyQuil too eh. I've had trouble sleeping since two years ago too. So I use these to knock me right out." Ezekiel hung over his top bunk and offered Alejandro the bottle of cold pills, only to realize someone was missing in their cabin "Wait where's Duncan eh?"

"Cody invited him over to the Victory Lodge I think. Those two have been awful tight lately." Geoff explained to the homeschooled farm boy.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Geoff: *yawns* "Don't get me wrong, a part of me will never forgive Al for what he did to my Bridgey-bear two years ago. But I don't think anyone should go through what Cedric put him through. So I'll just let bygones be bygones and try to help him get passed it. After all, it's only a few hours of sleep."**

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 **Ezekiel: "Words cannot describe how psyched I am not to have been tanked first again. But I don't really want to win this time to be honest. Me and Al are a lot alike in that we both have some baggage with Cedric. I know it's not his fault eh, but I kinda have trouble looking at Cody the same way now."**

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 **Alejandro: "Why is he...helping me?...That's not important, but what is important is that I get voted off as soon as possible. The further away I am from Cedric the better."**

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 **Scott: "What the heck was Lightning thinking...Talking crazy stuff like that...Everyone knows the demon has gotta be dead after all that. Heheh. But then there's Duncan hanging out with the demon wimp. I guess it's another reason to vote him off I guess."**

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 **Justin: "What Lightning said earlier, it was a little suspicious. He seemed to know something the rest of us don't, and after what happened last time I'm not taking any chances if it has any possibility that Cedric could be involved. I'll have to tell Cody ASAP!"**

* * *

Meanwhile, the victorious Heroic Hawks were enjoying their final night in the Victory Lodge, which was in many ways a spiritual successor to the first class quarters of World Tour. The victors of each challenge would enjoy high quality services, utilities, food, and privileges such as technology and the ability to invite select members of the opposing team to enjoy the luxuries. Both Trent and Cody used this privilege to invite Gwen and Duncan over respectively.

At the moment, the former delinquent and the geek were enjoying a drink at the bar while discussing life "Have to say, never thought I'd be drinking and rubbing elbows with a cop. Especially a geeky one like you."

"Hey, I'm only in training Duncan. I've got a long way to go before I get to where I'm aiming for." Cody said to his friend before slamming down another drink.

"Another season with Chris huh? You know I still can't believe Total Drama managed to pull through the mess that happened." Duncan remarked as the bartender prepared another mug for him to drink. FreshTV had been hit with a tempest of lawsuits and charges in the aftermath of the Mad Hatter Crisis, while also being forced to pay reparations for the damages caused by Cedric. It was only due to the massive ratings boost Cedric's appearances provided and the selling of the Jumbo Jet they were able to recover financially enough to make the fourth season possible.

"The feeling's mutual." Cody said as he waited for his own refill "So anyways, how have you been doing since World Tour?"

Duncan smiled. After what the media had been considering the darkest season in television history, he decided to change for the better. Like a repentant serpent, he shed the skin of a juvenile delinquent for a more… orderly image. In short, he was bad boy no more "Decided to leave the bad-boy act behind, considering how it's nearly gotten me killed at least twice now. My relationship with my family has gotten a lot better too. Who knew that nearly getting wasted by a red eyed lunatic in a top hat can teach you the importance of being close to your family? I'm still trying to convince them that what happened to me wasn't their fault since there's no way they could have known that's where Cedric had been shipped off. My older brother Malcolm is really beating himself over it."

"That's cool man." Cody said to his friend as he used his telekinesis to slide down his mug and give himself another refill.

"You got that right! Anyways, how have you been pipsqueak? Things been going well for you down in Manhattan?" Duncan asked, causing a somber expression to appear on Cody's face.

"Not really. People tend to include me on the blame from just being associated with Hatter. I don't think a day has gone by without me getting harassed by nut jobs and assholes calling me things like Satan's spawn or Antichrist. Hell, my entire family has been dealing with the shit I caused. Most of their coworkers and friends are sympathetic, but a lot of them have bee giving them the cold shoulder or leaving nasty notes because of me. It's like the name Anderson became similar to Hitler after World Tour."

"Ouch." Duncan grimaced in sympathy for his friend.

"That's part of the reason I went underground in New York. You can probably guess the other reason." Cody pointed towards Sierra, who was currently scavenging through his luggage like a stray dog would a trash can.

"Yep, she's nuts." Duncan said with deadpan in his voice, before slyly bringing up another subject "But speaking of the girls, I noticed you talking that cute blonde girl from last season."

Upon hearing this, Cody immediately covered up the former delinquent's mouth "Announce it to the entire team why don't you? Is Dawn cute? Yes. My type? Also yes. But not only do I get overexcited when I like a girl, but romance is definitely not on the table considering the amount of mentally ill people I've got to deal with."

"Ok down man, down." Duncan relented before pouring another drink at the bar, not noticing that Harold was glaring at the back of his head whenever he took a break from his gaming session with Noah, Owen, and Sam.

Unlike his friend and bandmate, Harold had yet to fully forgive Duncan due to their intense rivalry dating back to the original season of Total Drama, and hadn't yet approved of his and Cody's newfound friendship that had stemmed from their mutual hatred of Cedric. This showed rather easily, as Harold had been giving the evil eye ever since he'd been invited into the Victory Lodge, concerning the others around him.

"Hey Harold, are you going to play the game or are you going to just keep trying to burn a whole through the back of Duncan's head?" Noah asked in his usual sarcastic tone of voice.

"I'll never understand why Cody is friends with that jerk. Has he just forgotten what a tool he was to everyone during the first three seasons?" Harold said bitterly as he brought his attention back to playing the game, only for Sam to beat him almost immediately.

"Duncan did help take down Cedric, remember? Which it just so happened he did together with Cody and Tyler. I'm not gonna bother asking you to just give him a second chance or anything, but you should at least respect Cody's decision too." Noah gave the Dweeb his advice, though he didn't seem to be very convinced.

However, Brick was a lot more impressed with Noah's words and decided to compliment him "Excellent words of wisdom Sir. You'll make a fine team captain!"

"Um, excuse me...What?"

"You got that right Brick. My buddy Noah is the smartest guy around." Owen patted his best friend on the back a little too hard, causing him to fall off the couch and land painfully on the ground.

Harold, deciding to get input from another close friend of Cody's, turned to Trent as he was walking by "Hey Trent, you don't think Duncan's up to something with Cody do you?"

"I don't know man. I mean I never really liked the guy, but he seems pretty legit to me. Besides, after what happened with Cedric, I think Cody would know if somebody was playing him or not." Trent gave his answer, before walking back over to Gwen and Dawn.

The girls quickly formed a friendship in spite of their opposing teams, due to similar interests concerning the occult and environmental protection. Currently the girls were discussing an aspect of Dawn's belief system "So you're a wiccan? That's really cool!"

"Why thank you! That's the first time I think anyone's ever really complimented me based off my religion alone." Dawn thanked the goth, being very flattered by her comments.

"You know, Cody's actually a wiccan too." Trent decided to put his two cents into the conversation while setting down their drinks.

"Wait, really?" Gwen asked in shock that the geek was a practitioner of the wicca religion.

"Yeah. After he sealed Cedric off the first time he started researching other religions to figure out a good way to exorcise him. He came across some wiccan literature during his research, and it kinda just clicked with him." Trent explained Cody's conversion to the neo-paganist belief.

"So he's a wiccan? That's interesting." Dawn said, not noticing the slight blush on her face or the fact her eyes were drawn to the geek at the bar.

However, Gwen did notice and let a smirk grow across her face "I knew it! You've totally got a crush on him don't you?!"

"What?! No, I-I just think it's interesting to meet another medium who shares my wiccan beliefs is all!" Dawn said as her eyes nervously darted around the room, hoping that nobody (specifically Sierra) had heard what Gwen had said. Luckily for her, aside from an involuntary twitch of her ear, Sierra didn't seem to catch the conversation. However, this didn't change that Trent managed to pick up on a particular detail of her statement.

"Wait, what do you mean medium?"

"Someone with strong connection to the realm of souls and the supernatural; I'm a natural born medium who was born with powers while Cody's soul was originally a muggle before Cedric tampered with his soul, making him a mudblood." Dawn explained to the goth and the musician "There are four distinct types of mediums that exist in the World of the Living: Hearts, Diamonds, Spades, and Clubs. I can read auras so that makes me a Heart-type, while Cody has telekinesis that makes him a Club-type."

"Wait, wait, wait. Muggle? Mudblood? What's with the Harry Potter talk Luna Lovegood?" Gwen mocked the familiar sounding medium slang.

"Sorry, there used to be more complicated terminology but once those books came out, the terms kind of stuck." Dawn sheepishly explained the terms that had been borrowed from the popular book series.

"Well, anyways. It's getting late and there's a challenge tomorrow, so I should be heading back and getting some sleep. I don't want to risk blowing it and cause Courtney to hate me anymore than she already does." Gwen said as she left the Victory Lodge, sounding somber at her last sentence as she remembered her sins during the third season.

"She seems nice." Dawn said before getting up herself and trying to leave "It was nice talking to you guys, but I should really be going to bed soon myself."

"You know it's fine if you've got a crush on the kid, right?" Trent said bluntly, but also in a discrete whisper that only he and Dawn could hear "Ever since he help us five years ago, me and Gwen have always kind of hoped he would find someone. Gwen even wanted him with Sierra for a bit in World Tour, till she realized how...off she was."

Dawn grumbled a bit at the thought of Sierra's harassment of Cody, only to catch something in Trent's aura "Trent, I notice a noticeable pink in your aura whenever the topic of Gwen comes up. You still have feelings for her, don't you?"

"I...I guess I'm kind of obvious aren't I?" Trent slouched back into his chair "I'm kind of jealous of Duncan in that he was able to get over her so easily. But no matter how hard I try, I just can't over her."

"Well, I can tell there's something between the two of you. I'd be happy to help." Dawn reassured the guitarist before whispering into Trent's ear "But you have to keep my crush on Cody a secret in return. I can tell from his aura he's attracted to me, but I don't want to confuse him when he's already in such a dire mental state."

"Good call. Your secret's safe with me!"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Harold: "I've got my eye on Duncan! Cody's my friend and there's no way I'm going to let anything else hurt him after everything he's gone through."**

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 **Owen: "Brick's got the right idea making Noah the team captain! He's definitely the smartest guy I know, and also the most trustworthy. I just hope he gives good relationship advice, since I really wanna get back together with Izzy this time around. Breaking up with her was like, the 4th biggest mistake I've ever made!"**

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 **Trent: "Dawn seems pretty trustworthy, but it's kind of scary how she can just read our minds like that. Good thing she's on our side! I just hope things work out between her and Cody. I can tell they've got a mutual unspoken thing going on, and the dude deserves to be happy after everything. And he doesn't exactly show it around everyone, but he's been going through a lot of problems in these past two years."**

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 **Sierra: "I can't say I'm surprised Cody and Duncan have been spending so much time with each other. It's been the most popular yaoi shipping in the Total Drama fandom for two years running! But Duncan better not get any ideas, and that goes double for Dawn! I swear that Cody's perfect butt is mine this season!"**

* * *

Gwen walked silently through the campgrounds at night, being careful not to make any noise. Those in the villain's cabin had learned that the slightest sound would send the neurotic Alejandro into a screaming fit of terror the night before when Heather stubbed her toe on the side of the bed. As a result, she was tip toeing through the campgrounds in order to avoid anything that could set off another panic attack.

This didn't go as planned, as Gwen felt a strange tugging her left hand out of nowhere about halfway to the cabin. She looked to see what caused the tug and saw a girl about 6 years of age grabbing her hand "What are you doing on this Island? Is this another one of Chris's ploys?"

"Miss Lady, the Raven is back!" The girl said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Um what?" Gwen asked, a bit confused by the girl's statement.

"The raven! He came to play with us but then everyone disappeared. But he came back before, and now he's back to play more games!" The girl said again, before pointing to the Victory Lodge.

"Okaaaaaay."

"I've gotta go now, Danny's calling me! Bye bye!" The girl said before running back off into the woods.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Gwen: "...I have no clue what happened last night with that little girl. Was I dreaming?"**

* * *

The next morning, the Heroic Hawks and Villainous Vultures gathered at the Chrisiseum for their second challenge, in which Chris was shortly announce to the 29 of them remaining. While most of them had gotten a good amount of sleep the previous night, Geoff and Mike both seemed to be very exhausted. In the latter's case, this was due to banding together with his remaining personalities to search for the missing Vito all night, whom the others lost any memory of seeing disappear.

"Good morning All Stars, I hope you all had a good night's sleep. Because today's throwback challenge will put your bodies and spirits to the ultimate test!" Chris said as he walked into the arena with Chef and a group of unfortunate interns.

"Bring it on McLean! Unlike those wimps on the other team, us Villains can handle anything you throw at us!" Jo said proudly, earning her a few glares from both teams.

"I'm glad you feel that way Jo. Because today's challenge is gladiatorial combat!" Chris announced before elaborating further on the challenge "In a best 3 out of 5 style, match-ups for battle will be randomly selected by the computer and forced to fight each other till you either cry uncle or get knocked out cold. You can use any tools and any fighting style from the previous seasons as long as it isn't clearly lethal. The first team to win three matches win, while the losers will be sending someone home."

"Aw yeah! We've got this in the bag!" Courtney celebrated, being one of the most well versed in hand to hand combat of the entire cast.

However, some such as DJ were a bit more reluctant about the challenge "What if we don't wanna fight? Can we swap for somebody else on the team?"

"Nope. Refusing to fight is the same as forfeiting the round, meaning your team would go down a point. So if they lose, that would mean you could your butt sent home at the Colosseum of Losers tonight." Chris explained, making the gentle giant even more nervous "Now then, if there are no other questions, we can move on to the first match of the challenge."

The Host with the Most then gestured to Chef, who was wheeling in a computer and monitor off to the side that was meant to act as a lottery matchup between the two teams. Both logos displayed on the monitor, before Chris pressed a button on his remote which activated the program's random matchup of the contestants. After a few seconds, the wheel stopped on the contestants meant to duel one another to the Vultures' delight and Hawks' dread, the matchup turned out to be DJ facing off against Scott.

"Are you kidding me; I'm fighting the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man over here? This'll be too easy!" Scott claimed in a cocky tone when he saw the cowering DJ, only for Courtney to whisper in his ear.

"Don't let your guard down! He may be a big wuss, but he can also bench press a truck! There's a good reason he's considered the strongest person to play the game!" Courtney warned her teammate, wanting to avoid two losses in a row.

Scott didn't seem too worried in spite of her warnings "Relax sweetheart, I've got it taken care of. But just for the record, you can whisper in my ear like that anytime you want!" The only reaction Scott got from this was a dirty glare and a roll of the eyes.

Meanwhile, DJ was having a much harder time keeping himself calm in the face of adversity, forcing one of his closest friends to try and ease his nerves "You don't have to worry DJ, it's just like one of your football games. Just keep your eye on the ball." Bridgette reassured her large and shaking friend.

"But the padding and helmets keep anyone from actually getting hurt in a football game! I don't think I could stand hurting anyone, especially after what my curse did in World Tour." DJ said nervously, staring at the smug looking Scott like he was angry bull.

It was at this point Leshawna got involved, and she was a lot less soft than how Bridgette handled the situation "Brother, we both know that you could bring down that challenge throwing earthworm just by tapping him on the head. So cut it out with the whole Chicken Little routine and show him what you're made of!" Leshawna said to DJ before giving him a push in the direction of Chris and Scott, the former of whom proceeded to explain how this would work.

"Inside the walls of the Chrisiseum is an armory of weapons and armor both old and new for your convenience. You've got about five minutes to gather up the necessary materials for a good and ratings worthy fight, starting...now! Go gladiators go!" Chris signaled them both to run for the armory, which they did at breakneck pace. Afterwards, Chris faced the competitors who hadn't been chosen to fight "As for the rest of you, we who are about to die, please go sit in the stands and cheer on your team!"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **DJ: "I'm a** **pacifist, cause my momma always told me that fighting was wrong. There's no way I'm not gonna screw this up for the team!"**

* * *

About five minutes later, a timer went off one Chris' phone that signaled for him to call in the participating gladiators to their duel, which he proceeded to do with a large and loud bullhorn "Come on gladiators, I've got a massage at 3!" The Heroic Hawks and Villainous Vultures had been placed in separate places in the stands where they were meant to watch the challenge and root for their respective competitors.

Both Scott and DJ came out a few moments after Chris' request, each wearing an assortment of armor meant to protect them from injury and to make themselves look more intimidating. Scott wore a spiked pickelhaube helmet from WWI era Germany along with a bulletproof vest, and brandished a pair of spring grins that ere connected to hard metal balls which they launched and retracted back to pack an infinitely renewable and painful punch; DJ on the other hand, wore much more standard chainmail armor complete with the knight's helmet that he wore during season one's bicycle race. Unlike his opponent though, he didn't arm himself with any sort of weaponry.

"Dude, where are your weapons?" Geoff asked his friend from the stands, getting himself glares from several of his vulture teammates.

"I'm not using any. I don't wanna accidentally hurt him." DJ said with sincerity in his voice, causing his opponent and several members of the opposing team to laugh at him while his own team were either annoyed with his timidness or nervous for his ability to go up against the more ill tempered and vindictive Scott.

"Alright then, you may proceed in your duel gentlemen! Ding Ding!" Chris announced the official start of the challenge before turning over to talk to a random intern "Go get us an actual bell! It's a lot less impactful when I'm stuck doing it myself!"

Following Courtney's advice from earlier, Scott cautiously moved around DJ in case he made any sudden moves in spite of his clear lack of emotional readiness for such a challenge. When he was sure DJ wouldn't have time to react, Scott pulled the trigger on one of his weapons and sent a spring loaded ball straight into DJ's armor. The force and weight of the ball were enough to send the large young man flying into the wall, groaning in pain with a large dent in his armor.

When his vision cleared up again after momentary disorientation, he saw Scott pointing the weapon in his face "Maybe being one of the most powerful people in the game right now is making things too easy. I mean you're not even fighting back."

"Could you please point that thing somewhere else? You're making me kind of nervous." DJ stuttered at the sight of the pain causing weapon aimed right in between his eyes.

Scott merely chuckled at DJ's cowardice before taunting him even more "Aw, what's the matter muscle monkey? Afraid you're gonna get voted off and get sent back home to your ugly cow you call mommy?" Deciding to add insult to injury, Scott insulted DJ's mother right to his face. This quickly proved to be a very poor move, as DJ's expression turned to one of thunder as his eye twitched and voice became chillingly low.

" _What did you say about my momma?"_

"If you're gonna keep fighting like this, you might as well just give up that billi-" Scott tried to press his buttons even more, only for the furious DJ to grab him and lift him up over his head "Whoah, whoah! Hey, hey, hey!" The dirt farmer began to panic as he realized that he'd woken the sleeping giant, but wasn't given much time to ponder the folly of his actions as the brick house proceeded to break him over his knee.

Now in horrible pain, Scott cried out while tapping the dirt ground "AH! I GIVE UP! I GIVE! UNCLE! UNCLE!"

"And DJ takes the first round for the heroes!" Chris announced, causing the Hawks and a few of the Vultures to break out into cheers while DJ put Scott down and let the interns take him off to the infirmary.

Breathing heavily and being very confused, DJ decided to consult his teammates up in the stands "Can you guys tell me what just happened? I kinda blacked out just now."

"Let's just say you put on a pretty good show Chicken Little." Leshawna complimented her friend as he removed his set of armor, a large smile still on her face from the abrupt and back breaking ending to the match, while several other members of the Heroic Hawks praised DJ for his victory. Particularly enemies of Scott in the previous season, such as Mike and Zoey.

"You just made my day DJ!" Zoey proclaimed.

"I wanted to do that all season last year man." Mike said proudly.

The result of the match also seemed to have please members of the Villainous Vultures who were close friends of DJ from previous seasons such as Duncan, Geoff, and Gwen. However, Scott's failure seemed to make the rest of the team annoyed with their loss; Jo, Heather, Eva, and Lightning seemed exceptionally frustrated for reasons none of the others could understand at the moment. Before they could bask in the results of the first match anymore though, Chris spoke up.

"Now then, that match certainly was entertaining, but I think we should make it last a bit longer for the second match. The audience could get bored otherwise." Chris told them before pressing the slot activation button on his remote, which randomly selected Brick and Izzy to fight in the next round "Brick, Izzy! You've got five minutes to prepare your arsenal and battle strategies!"

"Sir yes sir!" Brick reacted with a salute, while Izzy reacted excitedly doing a back handspring out of the stands before running off towards the armory.

* * *

Another five minutes later, which allowed for a quick commercial of the programming, Izzy and Brick were about to be called in for their fight. The quick yet brutal ending to the previous left the contestants curious and amused, which was intensified when Scott came back to the stands after having been forced into an uncomfortable looking back brace. He glared at DJ from the other side of the stands, wishing to get back at him for this humiliation.

However, his ire was quickly directed towards Zoey, who snickered at seeing her old rival in his painful position "What are you laughing at tomato head?"

"Oh nothing." Zoey innocently looked the other way, before returning the glare in a sideways glance and flipping him the bird.

With their five minutes up, Chris decided to call in the chosen gladiators to compete in their fight "Brick, Izzy. Your time is up! Get your stuff together and get to fighting!" The opponents came out shortly, each being prepared for battle. Actually, only Brick seemed to really be prepared, as Izzy seemed to be using no weapons or armor, and wore what she normally did. Contrast, with Brick who wore soldier attire one would expect from a Canadian solider doing combat on the beach battlefields of WWII.

Seeing their competitor's lack of effort put into challenge, the Villains either groaned in annoyance or verbally chided Izzy. One such example of this would be Heather "What are you doing Izzy? Aren't you trying to win?"

"Of course! But E-Scope doesn't need armor to bring her opponents down." Izzy explained to Heather, who groaned in annoyance at the crazy girl's bizarre methods.

"I Chris I, command you to start the duel!"

"Alright Izzy, I hope you realize I won't allow myself to hold back." Brick said as he got into a battle stance with a somewhat confident look on his face.

However his teammates from the first generation didn't seem to share his enthusiasm "Looks like the Vultures are taking this one." Noah said blankly, surprising those who weren't very familiar with Izzy or her bizarre skill set.

"What do you mean?" Zoey asked.

"You seem to have forgotten how Izzy has beaten Chef in hand to hand combat up to 77 different times over the course of all four seasons." Sierra explained to Zoey as if it were the most obvious thing in the world "And keep in mind that he's a Grim Reaper who served in the Pacific Theatre of World War II before his untimely death during the-"

"How do you know all this stuff?" Mike asked, before a defeated Brick was suddenly thrown on top of him by Izzy, who tossed him into the stands. This caused Mike to suddenly turn into Chester "Dang kids, pile-driving people in the stands. Back in my day we played decent sports like hockey or cricket!"

"Izzy wins for the Vultures, leaving the score 1-1!" Chris announced, while Chef picked up the now unconscious Brick and carried him off to the infirmary "Now then, for our next matchup: Cody vs Lightning!"

Once the host announced the next matchup, those involved reacted accordingly, with Cody turning as pale as a sheet and letting a hard gulp go down his throat, while Lightning verbally celebrated and jumped out of the stand "Aw yeah Lightning's gonna bring the heat!"

"Oh no you don't!" Sierra angrily stood up from her seat, intending on fighting in Cody's place, only to be pulled back down by Dawn.

"We can't interfere with the match remember!"

Noticing the apparent terror on his friend's face, Noah slid towards him and whispered something in his ear. While no one else could hear it, Cody seemed to be a lot less terrified after Noah's advice, and got up to head into the armory as well.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Lightning: "I don't really know much about the little girl I'm supposed to fighting, but I do know that the Hat guy really doesn't like him. So if I pretend he's Cameron and kick his butt, he could help me win the billion. But he still better not get any ideas, cause even if we are in an axis or alliance or whatever he calls it, Lightning's in it for himself!"**

* * *

Within the next five minutes, Cody and Lightning had already made the preparations for their part in the challenge by going into the armory and were staring each other down from opposite sides of the stadium. Or at least Lightning was, as Cody seemed to be avoiding eye contact with the overachiever. While Noah seemed confident that his plan would work, Sierra seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack.

"What are you thinking! You've thrown my beloved Cody to the lions." Sierra screamed in Noah's face, though he didn't really seem to have much of a reaction.

"Relax Stalkerzilla, if Cody can outrun a demon in a freezing cold temperatures I think he can outrun Lightning long enough for my plan to work."

Noah's explanation didn't do much to ease Sierra's anger, but her fury was directed somewhere else when Dawn spoke up "You really shouldn't be so smothering towards him you know."

"WHAT?!"

"I can tell from his aura that he's been in several varying states of emotional distress, and they've only gotten worse since the Mad Hatter Crisis. Your sexual harassment of him could only cause more mental problems for him to deal with." Dawn said to the uberfan in a way that seemed very blunt.

"Sexual harassment?! Cody and I are in love! You're just...jealous!"

"And you're insane." Noah responded to Sierra's claim, before hushing her and Dawn "Now be quiet you two, things are about to get interesting."

"I, Emperor Chris I, command you to-" Chris tried to start this portion of the challenge before Lighting charged at Cody before he could finish, irking the host "I didn't say you could start yet!"

Lightning used the same armor he used to fight Cameron in the finale to Revenge of the Island last year, complete with the same pan helmet and mannequin leg mace, which he was now trying to bludgeon Cody with "You're going down little girl!"

"Oh haha! No one's thought of that one before!" Cody tried while trying to avoid Lightning's swings before he eventually had the nails of the weapon jammed into the wall by a very poorly aimed swing. Once his opponent was distracted, Cody tried to reason with him in a friendly tone "You seem a bit too interested in this fight. Especially considering the fact that we've literally never even spoken before this."

While trying to pry his mace from the wall of the colosseum, Lightning glared at Cody before explaining "You're that Beanpole wimp the Hat guy was talking about right?" This sentence caused just about everyone to go silent and still in a mixture shock and interest, especially Duncan and Lightning's alliance members. After he managed to pull out the rusted nails from the wall, Lightning elaborated further on what he meant "I don't know what that guy's deal is, but I do know that he doesn't like you. So I figured I'd score a few points by tenderizing you."

"...oh really?" Cody's voice turned cold and silent at the thought of what Lightning was insinuating.

Thinking his opponent had let his guard down, Lightning decided to charge him and end the fight in a brutal denouement, only to realize that something strange. He was completely paralyzed "Wait a second, why can't Lightning move?"

"That may be my fault." Cody began his own explanation "You may not have known this but I've been practicing with my telekinetic powers quite a bit lately. So while you were running that big fat mouth of yours I took the liberty to paralyze your joints. Now I don't know whether you're a big jerk or a big idiot, but you shouldn't be cracking jokes about the Mad Hatter Crisis. Hatter hurt a lot of people, including some close friends of mine. Making of light of it like that really makes me mad. So I'll just have to show you how I became the lady killer I am today."

With a sudden movement of his left hand, Cody sent a screaming Lightning flying out of the arena and into a nearby pile of dirty laundry for a very hard and very smelly landing "Have we really left that pile there since season 1?...I mean, Cody wins! That puts the tally 2-1 in favor of the Heroic Hawks."

The Hawks celebrated the victory in the duel, while the Vultures grumbled in annoyance. This was especially true for Heather "Great, I'm on a team of losers again! Bad enough I'm stuck with Alej-...Where's Alejandro?"

"I'VE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!" Alejandro's voice rang from outside the challenge area, as he'd run away in fright once Lightning had mentioned Cedric. However, he didn't get very far before being chased by an annoyed bear "YES! PLEASE MAUL ME! THAT WAY I'LL BE MEDICALLY EVACUATED!"

"Ok, let's go through a quick break while we can calm Al down." Chris said as he stood up with Chef, feeling the slightest bit of sympathy for the former arch villain.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Scott: "What is that idiot thinking? Is he trying to get himself killed?"**

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 **Eva: "That...big...DUMBASS!"**

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 **Mike: "Lightning's a pretty big jerk, but I still don't think he's the type to crack jokes about something as big as the Mad Hatter Crisis. Something's going on here!"**

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 **Lightning: "That was totally rigged! There is no way I could lose to a geek twice in a row! That's it, I've got two nerds to beat the stuffing out of now, and no one's gonna stand in my way! This is personal now Beanpole or whatever your name is!** **Shabam!"**

* * *

After the fight had finished, Cody made his way outside the colosseum and leaned up against the wall, try to calm down and let his anger pass its course. However, after a few moments he found that to be harder and harder to control, especially when a familiar face appeared right in front oh him "Nice job shrugging him off like nothing's wrong Beanpole. It's almost as if you weren't going to just start dragging information out of that moron right then and there."

"Shut up Hatter. We both know you're not real, so just go away do whatever figments of my imagination do." Cody glared at the hallucination of Cedric in front of him.

"So what if I'm real or not real dummy load? The fact that you're seeing me right now proves that even if I'm dead and gone, you'll never truly be free of the deal we made 8 years ago. But then again, the fact that you've got all those things hidden under your shirt right now is already proof enough of that."

"I said shut up!"

"Why are you yelling at me? I'm not the one who forgot to take their meds today Beanpole, so it's really your own fault that I'm even here. And we both know I mean that in more ways than-"

"Hey, pipsqueak!" The hallucination of Cedric suddenly disappeared when Duncan arrived and patted him on the shoulder "Nice job tossing that idiot around like a rag doll. I wanted to do that when he started blabbing about Cedric."

"It's happening again Duncan!" Cody suddenly said, referring to his hallucinations.

Duncan immediately understood what he'd meant by this and asked "What Lightning said earlier really got to you didn't it?"

"What-no, I just forgot to take my meds is all; but still, something was off about that guy. You don't think he's part of the Hatters do you?" Cody asked, though Duncan seemed a bit more confused by what his friend was inferring to. Before he had a chance to ask about what he'd meant though, another close friend Cody's appeared.

"That was totally wicked Cody! I hope I get the chance to show off some of my mad skills too!" Harold came up to Cody from behind and gave him a quick high five, only to notice the presence of his hated rival and bully from the first two seasons "Duncan."

"Harold."

Noticing the air of awkwardness between his friends, Cody decided to try and act as something of a mediator "So guys, I guess you haven't talked much since Season 2 ended. How about after the challenge we can hang out and talk about how things have bee-Oh crap, not her again! See you guys later!" Cody almost immediately sprinted in the opposite direction when he saw Sierra heading towards them.

"Codykins, are you okay? Do you need mouth to mouth resuscitation?"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"So? How you been doing since World Tour man?" Duncan tried to act friendly with the Dweeb, who was having none of it and simply walked off with a glare.

"None of your business, jackass." Harold growled.

"Ok, look, I'm sorry about everything I did to you man. Can't we just let bygones be bygones?" Duncan apologized to Harold in an attempt to make amends.

However, Harold noticeably was not convinced by this apology "Yeah right, you think I'm gonna let everything slide just because you asked me too? Sure I've got a gross habit of leaving my shorts lying around the cabin, and rigging the votes against Courtney was a dick move. But you and Geoff took things way too far with all the shit you put me through. Just because Cody has forgiven you doesn't mean I have to. And just for the record, if you do anything to him, no Grim Reaper out there will be able to fix what I do to you." With that said, Harold stormed off.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Harold: "Can you believe that guy, acting like we're friends? I already fell for that once back in Action, and there's no way I'm letting him trick me like that again."**

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 **Duncan: That could have gone a lot better. I wonder if this is how Gwen feels with Courtney."**

* * *

After another five minutes, the interlude ended with Chris and the teams returning to their place in the stands, albeit with a few missing faces here and there. Brick and Lightning had returned from their trip to the infirmary, with the former only having a few bruises and the latter now holding a large ice pack to their heads from the fall "Now then, I hope you all enjoyed that quick break. Because you're not getting another one! The fourth match shall-"

"Wait, where's Alejandro?" Dakota asked, noticing that her scarred teammate was missing.

Despite his irritation at being interrupted, Chris decided to answer "Hiding from Chef. And as for you Hawks, where's Cody?"

"Hiding from Sierra." Bridgette responded with an annoyed boredom in her voice, as her and the rest of the team were already getting annoyed with Sierra's behavior.

"Well then, they'll just have to miss the rest of the challenge. And a quick healthy reminder for the Villains, if you lose this match you lose the challenge." Chris warned the Villainous Vultures about their situation before clicking the button that would chose the next match "Looks like the fourth duel will be...Cameron vs Ezekiel!"

This tended to have a rather mixed response from both teams, with there being both groans of frustrations and cheers of joy at the choice. Jo was one of those who seemed excited as she had several negative encounters with Cameron in the past "Looks like we've got this in the bag!"

"We're dead." Dakota said blankly, being much less confident of Ezekiel's chances in the duel.

"What are you talking about? Even Homeschool should be able to take Weaselboy in a fight."

"That's not what Sam and Zoey have been telling me." Dakota explained her reasoning as to why Cameron would win "Cam's been working on a lot of new tech."

"Who cares! As longs as he's not using the armor he used against Lightbulb over here, we should be in the clear!" Jo shrugged off her words, while gaining an evil glare from Lightning in the process.

"You've got five minutes to get whatever armor you need to fight." Chris told the gladiators as he gestured once again to the door leading to the armory dump outside. However, while Ezekiel seemed intensely focused on the path to the armory, Cameron was very nonchalant about the the situation and simply fiddled with his glasses. It became even more apparent about who was more interested in the armor and weapons in the pile when Chris gave the go to move "Ready, set, go!"

About a nanosecond after Chris gave this announcement, Ezekiel dived out of the stands and ran to the armory as fast as possible while Cameron just stayed behind. This action confused just about everyone who didn't understand the new technology of his coke bottle glasses "Um, dude, why are you just standing there?" Trent asked, as he was not familiar with the technological advancements that had been made by the Bubble Boy in the past year.

"You'll see Trent. You'll see." Cameron said with a confidence that he didn't have when he first competed a year ago. Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye without the need for the author to add in another screen break, and Ezekiel came back out of the armory with a roman gladiator's garb, complete with a pipe spear and trashcan lid shield.

Typical of his hatred for the homeschooled teen, Chris wasn't very impressed "A little unoriginal don't you thinK? I never meant you had to literally be a gladiator Zeke."

"I thought it looked cool eh." Ezekiel defended his choice of armor.

"Whatever. Hey Cam, how are you going to fight with no armor?"

"Simple. I already have my armor." Cameron revealed with a grin before sliding the wheel on the rim of his glasses which caused his jacket to suddenly unleash a set of mechanics. The mechanics encased Cameron to reveal an armor similar to the one that he'd used in the previous season's finale, but with noticeably superior metal used to construct it. He flew out of the stands and into the ring in front of a terrified Ezekiel.

Now seeing what Cameron had up his sleeve, Jo gave a resigned sigh "We're dead."

"Told you so." Dakota responded.

 _"I'd recommend you give up Ezekiel, I don't want to hurt you."_ Cameron tried to give his opponent a fair warning before complimenting _"By the way, nice recreation of the traditional roman gladiator."_

"Thanks eh." Ezekiel said before he found that his garbage shield had a massive hole burned into it by one of Cameron's energy blasts. It was at this point that Ezekiel ran as fast as he could away from Cameron, who pursued in midair while firing onto Ezekiel with green stun blasts. However, Ezekiel seemed to be strangely well versed at dodging the blasts and maneuvered around them before Cameron even had a chance to properly aim.

This both surprised and impressed, the Vultures causing an increased morale amongst them Ezekiel dodged Cameron's attacks. However, the Hawks seemed to be more shocked then anything, especially Cody, Mike, and Dawn. After another few minutes of this, Ezekiel ran up the wall in a rare act of acrobatic skill and flipped onto Cameron's back. Not knowing what to do, he began to smack the Bubble Boy on the helmet with the end of his spear.

Eventually, he hit the armor's kill switch out of instinct, causing it to retract back into Cameron's hoodie and both boys to go crashing into the ground below. Being the physically weaker of the two, Cameron seemed to be flat exhausted, which was only worsened by the fact that he failed to reactivate the armor "Chris, I think I have no choice but to forfeit in this situation."

"Can't argue with that logic. The fourth round's winner is...Ezekiel." Chris flatly announced the contestants name as his team broke out into celebration.

After Ezekiel had gotten off of him and he'd snapped his spine back into place, Cameron took the opportunity to talk to his opponent "Nice job disabling my armor like that Ezekiel, even if I'm not exactly sure how you did it."

"I have no idea what just happened." Ezekiel said as he panted from what seemed like almost an out of body experience to him.

"Hey, we've only got one more match today, and I've got a massage at 3:30! Cut out the love-fest people!" Chris yelled down to them irritably before pressing the switch that would activate monitor revealing the final duel of the challenge, one that got the attention of everyone in the first generation "Whoa, this should be a fun grudge match: Duncan vs Harold!"

Both combatants had a visible double take when they heard the match up, but for Harold this quickly changed into a look of determination. Leshawna feared for her boyfriend's safety and tried to coax him out of playing "Look sugar baby, no one's gonna make you get into that ring."

"I'm afraid that I can't do that Leshawna. This is about my honor as a warrior." Harold stated as he walked out of the stands to the armory.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Lightning: "You've gotta be kidding me! I waited over a year to get back at that Stringbean for what he did to me, and that Homeschooled nerd gets first shot at him? I hope Hat guy thinks that he's and the other nerds are enemies, cause I'm gonna be a nerd crushing machine this year!"  
**

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 **Cody: "No way. No frickin' way! Could Ezekiel-**

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 **Dawn: "I think that Ezekiel might be a Spade medium!"**

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 **Heather: "You know, I was a bit worried that we might lose this challenge after Scott and Lightning messed everything up, but things are looking up now. Duncan and Harold have hated each other forever now, so I now he's not gonna hold back. I was thinking I should vote him out at first, but he might actually be more useful then my actual alliance."**

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 **Harold: "Duncan better not even think about backing out of this. I want to settle things between the two of us once and for all, and then we'll never have to speak to each other again!"**

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 **Gwen: "I hope that Duncan knows what he's doing here."**

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 **Duncan: "I'm pretty sure I know what I've gotta do, but that doesn't mean I'll like it. In fact I'm pretty sure that this is gonna suck."**

* * *

"Alright gladiators, get your butts out here! This challenge has felt way longer than it's actually been." Chris ordered the gladiators, getting more and more impatient as the challenge has rolled on. About half a minute later, Harold and Duncan came back out ready to fight. Or at least Harold was as he wore makeshift samurai armor and brandished a bamboo sword one would normally expect from his character; Duncan, however was one of the umpteenth to be wearing nothing to protect him and have no weapon.

This visibly annoyed not only his team, but Harold as well "Where's your armor Duncan? I won't you let you quit!"

"I'm not quitting Doris, I'm just not going to fight you. You can swing that toy sword at me as much as you like." Duncan explained to his opponent cracking his neck and knuckles in preparation for the beating he was about to receive. Harold quickly figured out Duncan's intent, and gave him a quick nod before charging him.

True to his word, Duncan didn't move an inch as Harold repeatedly smacked him around with the sword, even as he became more bruised and bloodied. All the while Duncan's friends and other members of his team watched in shock "What is he doing?" Lightning screamed in frustration, not comprehending why he was essentially throwing the match.

"Hey guys, what did I-" Cody asked as he arrived back in Chrisiseum, after having hid in a beaver dam away from Sierra for the past fifteen minutes. It was then that he noticed the fight going on in front of him "Holy crap!"

"Do you have any idea why Duncan might being this?" Noah asked, knowing Cody knew Duncan the best out of anyone on their team.

However, DJ also knew the ex-Delinquent pretty well and answered for him "I think he's trying to prove something."

Harold kept beating Duncan with the sword, despite it evidently becoming more and more physically and emotionally exhausting for the Dweeb. However, Duncan still refused to go down, until one good smack upside the head knocked him unconscious. Chef quickly dropped into the ring to check if Duncan was physically able to continue the challenge, and found that he'd been knocked out. After receiving the signal from Chef, Chris announced "In a 3-2 upset, the Heroic Hawks have continued their winning streak!"

Hearing the cheers of his team and the upset groans of Duncan's, Harold proceeded to bow his head to his defeated opponent "You are most honorable."

While Harold was very satisfied with the results of the match, the entirety of the Villainous Vultures were unhappy that they'd be stuck going to elimination twice in a row. Courtney seemed to very vocally angry at her ex's loss though "Come on! We both know you could have one that fight dumbass!"

"Courtney, calm down. You're gonna cause a scene." Gwen tried to reign her competitive former friend in, only to get her ire directed at her.

"Of course you would say that. You're probably still sleeping with him behind everyone's back." Courtney rolled her eyes at Gwen.

Now, the goth girl was a little more offended "Hey, me and Duncan broke up a hot second after everything with Cedric went down. Besides, he's already in a relationship outside the game and I'm definitely not looking for one right now."

"Funny, him being in a relationship never stopped you before." Courtney continued to raise her voice, as more and more attention was brought towards the argument and Chris had the interns get in a closer shot.

"I said I was sorry like a million times!"

"I don't care, whore!"

"Don't call me a whore, bitch!" Gwen yelled, the argument now having progressed to the point both girls were up in each other's face. However, things quickly took a turn as the familiar adrenaline of an argument caught up with Courtney, causing her to suddenly grab ahold of Gwen's face and give her a deep kiss out of nowhere. Things were so silent on the island at that point that one could hear a pin drop, with Gwen being too shocked to even move.

"Ugh my head." Duncan groaned in a dull pain while clutching the large bruises on his head, only to catch sight of his exes kissing in the stands. It was by this point that he passed out again, with a large nosebleed.

Shortly after, Courtney realized what she was doing and immediately pulled away, not even wanting to look the paralyzed Gwen in the eyes "I-i-I...Why would-" The shock of the situation then took full weight, and the goth passed out in the middle of the stands, leaving a horrified Courtney to run away from the stands while trying to wipe away the blue lipstick residue from her formerly brown lips.

"No way." Trent said almost robotically with Dawn and Cody close by.

"I have so many mixed feelings right now."

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Dakota: "Sorry Duncan, what you did was cool and all, but it kind of cost us the challenge."**

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 **Ezekiel: "Definitely Lightning, that guy's almost as scary as Eva."**

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 **Duncan: "I probably should be thinking about who to vote off to keep myself off the chopping block right now, but when a man sees his exes playing tonsil hockey he needs to rethink a few things."**

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 **Lightning: "Duncan cost us the win, so he's gotta go shabye-bye! That plus he's friends with Beanpole guy!"**

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 **Courtney: "Why did I do that? Why oh why did I do that?"**

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 **Gwen:"I-I-I-I-I-I"**

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 **Heather: "Disregarding Courtney's coming out party, I bet you're thinking I'll be voting off Duncan tonight. But no-"**

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 **Eva: "But now-"**

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 **Scott: "We've got bigger fish to fry. And on a side note, how could Courtney chose a girl over me?!"**

* * *

"Grudge matches, new rivalries, old friendship, and a kiss so big it will be ratings central in only the second episode." Chris as he walked around the seats of the Congress of Shame, looking at the Villainous Vultures who seemed to be submerged in a sea of awkward. Especially Courtney and Gwen, who sat as far away from each other as possible "But in the end, you Vultures lost again. So it is my duty to drop one of your stars into the flame and send you to your execution in the Colosseum of Losers. And you can't come back. Ever!"

While all but the most confident of the Vulture's flinched at this reminder, Chris started passing out the marshmallows "The first marshmallow goes to...Ezekiel?!"

"Wait, wha?" Ezekiel asked, being just as surprised as Chris while still happily receiving his token of immunity.

"Next up is Dakota, Eva, Courtney, and Heather." Chris continued announcing the immunities "Justin, Geoff, Jo, Izzy, and Scott: you're also safe. Now then, the rest of you have gotten at least one vote tonight."

"Yes!" Alejandro gleefully responded at the idea of his potential elimination, only for this to drop when Chris announced the next names.

"Alejandro, Gwen, you're safe too." Chris tossed them their marshmallows. While Alejandro banged his head against the post in frustration, Chris leered at the bottom two who had yet to receive their marshmallows. While Duncan was very nervous due to his actions near the end of the challenge, Lightning stood with the upmost confidence "The final marshmallow goes too...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Duncan."

"Shawha'!" Lightning said in pure disbelief as Duncan was given the last marshmallow on the plate, and Lightning's star was broken from its chain and dropped into the fire pit below "But that doesn't make any sense, I know he had more votes than me! Alliance?"

"Sorry, but you were really holding us back." Heather shrugged it off, while Jo mocked the one partially responsible for her defeat last season.

"So long, Sha-Dead Weight!"

"Traitors! I can't be voted out second! I'm the biggest all-star here! I still got butt to kick!" Lightning angrily tried to dispute his elimination.

"I'll take your place!" Alejandro tried to speak up, only to get brushed off by Chris.

"Be quiet Al! Lightning, I'm afraid your appeal has been denied, and you face execution in the Colosseum of Losers!" Chris gave a thumbs down near his throat, before pressing a button which shot out a chain and collar which wrapped itself around Lightning's neck and dragged him into the Colosseum. It was then that a monitor displayed the events of the execution in live.

 _Elimination: Fourth Down_

Lightning found himself in a room shrouded in darkness, only for the lights to flash on and reveal a large football field filled with large robotic players that appeared to be the opposing team. Before Lightning had an opportunity to comprehend what was going on a glowing red football was dropped into his hands causing the robots to pursue him in an attempt to tackle him. With his instincts taking over, Lightning ran towards the flashing goal post 100 yards away from him.

Being determined to reach the goal out of some sort of primal desire, Lightning threw off the robotic players with little regard for sportsmanship. Within minutes, the overachiever reached the goal post only to find that he'd failed to notice the massive pit between him and the goal post, which he was now teetering over the edge of. To make matters even worse for him, one of the robots had finally managed to catch up to him. However, instead of tackling him, it simply poked Lightning in the back causing him to lose his balance and fall screaming into the pit.

"SHA-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH"

Turning off the monitor, Chris turned to the remainder of the Vultures with his typical smirk "Looks like he couldn't quite get his head in the game could he? As for the rest of you, you're all safe...for tonight!"

* * *

Things would only get worse for Lightning that night, as in spite of his alliance betraying him he was summoned back to the same dirt path leading to the Bloody Jackal Bar after losing consciousness from his fall into the pit. Enraged and wanting answers, Lightning full on sprinted to the bar where he found the other members of the Axis and Cedric waiting for him. At the moment, the Mad Hatter Killer seemed to besides himself with laughter "Can someone please pick up that phone because I fucking called it! I knew Wrath was bi!"

"Get over it already. It was just one kiss." Scott growled, irritated at the idea of Courtney being with someone besides him.

"Aw, someone still upset about getting bitchslapped by Teddy Bear? Well I'll tell you what B.O., I can pick you up a sundress and a parasol and you can sashay your pretty little self around the town square!" Cedric viciously mocked Scott for his humiliating defeat, not noticing the pissed off Lightning at the bar's entrance.

That is, until he flat out yelled "Hey, Hat Guy!"

"Oh look, it's Rudy. I was wondering when you would arrive." Cedric noticed Lightning's presence and faced him, with his voice now going lower and more cold "We have a lot discuss concerning your incompetence today."

"Me? What about them? They were the ones who-"

"Voted you off? I know, that's because I ordered them to do it for you nearly fudging everything up." Cedric interrupted Lightning while dropping his cigarette ashes into a tray.

Hearing this news immediately set Lightning off, balling up his fist and preparing to punch Cedric's lights out "You?! Why you rat?" Lightning threw his fist aimed straight at the Mad Hatter's face, though he simply caught it and twisted it around with a painful crunching sound.

"You wanna know why I did it dumbarse? If you just made an arse of your self in a challenge like B.O. over here did I could just laugh it off and switch your toes while you sleep later. But not only did you make an arse of yourself fighting that tosser Beanpole, who I'm saving for myself, but you also blabbed about me in front of him and in front of every confessional! If you weren't such a pillock, they would have figured out I'm here, traced me back to the talisman, and everything would be RUINED!" Cedric screamed in pure rage in Lightning's face, who was now sweating profusely "This type of idiocy is grounds for a Class A punishment!"

Due to either gaining some semblance of courage back or just being stupid as tar, Lightning mustered the ability to mouth off to the pissed off Cedric "Well, maybe if your plan wasn't so stupid I would have done better! How do you like that you stupid Australian."

While this insult managed to make everyone who knew what made Cedric tick skip breathing for a moment, Cedric's face merely turned blank "That's it, you die now. Malven, activate the King's Court Spell!" Following Cedric's command, the Malevolent One in the flaming black painting turned over one of the five cards laid out on the table in front of him. It was then that Lightning felt his skin begin to erode away as his lower body was now nothing but a skeleton.

"Just for the record, I'm British. Not Australian." Cedric said as he looked in Lightning's terrified eyes with a certain kind of sadistic glee.

"Wait, Lightning's sorry! I won't do it again."

"No one ever gets the chance too." Cedric said with a grin as the erosion came up to Lightning's neck, while giving a sideways glance to the terrified Axis with his gleaming red eyes "In case you were wondering, this is a Class A punishment. Surprise!"

"NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lightning screamed in terror as he was completely turned into a skeleton, which began having purple cracks spread across their body. After a few seconds of this, the skeleton broke down into dust and the overachiever's screams were silenced.

 _Once again Lightning found himself surrounded by darkness, though it was much colder and more frightening than before. Desperate to find a way out of whatever demise Cedric had in store for him, Lightning began to call out and run around the void "Is anyone there? Please help! Lightning doesn't wanna die like this!"_

 _"I'm here Lightning." A familiar geeky voice beckoned to Lightning from beyond the pale. Out of the darkness came a confident looking Cameron, causing Lightning's fear to turn to rage "I heard you were looking to fight me in today's challenge. I figured we could duke it out before you go."_

 _"Oh yeah, I've been waiting for this for a long time smart guy. I'm gonna crush you like a grape!" Lightning declared while slowly approaching Cameron._

 _However, the Bubble Boy didn't seem very intimidated and was more amused by Lightning's claims then anything "Oh Lightning, how are you going to do that when you don't have a single bit of muscle on those bones of yours?" Cameron said smugly as Lightning looked down to see what his rival was talking about. To his horror, every ounce of muscle and fat on his body was peeling off, leaving his grossly emaciated._

 _"Wait, what's happening to me?"_

 _"Isn't it obvious Lightning? This is your true self!_ _You've been a weakling all this time; one who couldn't even beat me_ _" Cameron told him while cracking his knuckles and slowly walking towards him._

 _"No..You're wrong!" Lightning screamed in denial as he tried to fight back against Cameron with a weak fist, which he easily dodged. It was then that Cameron countered with a headbutt that broke several of Lightning's weak ribs, before grabbing him by the neck and tossing him into the air. When he landed, he broke all of his limbs leaving him immobile on the ground, while Cameron broke his spine with an elbow drop._

 _"This is what you were going to do to me in the last finale wasn't it? And you couldn't even manage that! Pathetic." Cameron mocked the scrawny and broken Lightning, who was now crying in defeat._

 _"Why you *sniff* stupid bubble lover!" Lightning tried to hold back his tears of pain, before he was confronted by another figure who emerged from the darkness "Pops?"_

 _"Look at you Rudolph, how could I have sired a pathetic son like you?" Pops brutally disowned his son to his face "First you shame me and make me lose my rings by losing the finale last year, then you get second to last place, and now you're in this sorry state being beaten by Cameron again? What was I thinking ever thinking you could be a great athlete. You're nothing to me!"_

 _"...pops...why...WHHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"_

"why...why...why...why..." Lightning said repeatedly in the real world, as he was now trapped in the Joker card that the Malevolent One held in his hands inside the painting.

While the remaining members of the Axis looked completely horrified by what they'd just witnessed, Cedric and his mysterious cosigner seemed amused "That's what awaits you ever screw up as bad as Rudy did today. You'll suffer your worst nightmare over and over again for all eternity. I give myself credit, even Mr. Red hasn't come up with something this delicious." Cedric told his slaves with ecstasy dripping from each word he spoke.

Finding the words to say after what he'd just witnessed, Scott screamed to the others "QUICK! TOSS THE CARDS!"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. Now that you've rubbed skin cells off on those cards, the only thing you duckies can do to stop the spell from effecting you is passing it on to someone else. Now isn't that a fun idea?" Cedric sneered as he lit another cigarette "Now then, we have to discuss the matter of Rudy's replacement."

"G-good idea. I was thinking maybe Dakotazoid if we place a card on Sam." Scott nervously tried to suggest, only for his plan to immediately be rejected.

"Not a contestant dummy, we're bringing in supernatural forces this time around. My friend in the painting's already got a few deals lined up, but for now we're going with the most accessible ally and potential bartender." Cedric announced before suddenly coughing up an orange and skull shaped skull and grabbing it in his hands "Tell me lads and lovies, do you believe in ghosts?"

* * *

 **(A/N): Anyone want a few nightmares right before bed? Because I sure want you to have some with chapter, where I really push the T rating! But in all seriousness, I'm insanely sorry for just how damn long this took. I decided to focus on some of my other stories for a while, which was not helped by the fact that college is as hard to get write during as balls. Well, hard to write anything besides research papers and essays anyways. I'll try to get the next chapter out quicker this summer, but between work and family that may not work out as** **well as I'd hope.**

 **Once again, I've gotta give a quick shoutout to Lord NV, who's offered advice for a while Please check out his stories Total Drama Eden and Voodoo's Disciple: Peanut Gallery, as both are gonna be fun to read if you like the Monster Chronicles and are seriously lacking in love. Also, I have to give a shoutout to CMR Rosa, who's helped out on this story's TV Tropes page and will also be providing another fun surprise later down the line. Please check out his work, Rick and Morty: New Drama Adventures if you like Rick and Morty like I do. But don't be one of these people who riot outside McDonalds like a lunatic.**

 **I'm very sorry for the long wait. Please review this chapter and if you're new and want to see more, follow and favorite as well. See you next time.**

 **. . .**


	3. Heroic Hawk Down

**Disclaimer: I don't own Total Drama. If I did I would have made sure my staff had restricted access to whatever drugs they were on when they came up Total Drama Daycare...Wait a sec, they changed the name to Total DramaRama?! Th-that doesn't even make any sense!**

 **Chapter 3: Heroic Hawk Down**

* * *

While he presented the skull shaped soul he'd just coughed up out of nowhere, the other members of the Axis stared at Cedric with a mixture of curiosity and fear as a result of what he'd just done to Lightning not but a minute ago "So you're saying that thing you've got there is a ghost?"

"Right on the money BO!" Cedric praised Scott for his accurate guess "This is a spare soul I've kept in gullet instead of my life span, just in case I needed it later on. He's just some schmuck who's body I never actually identified, so he's not particularly important."

"None of your victims have ever been particularly important to you." Eva rolled her eyes at the demon, trying to ignore the massive pit in her stomach from seeing the effects of the King's Court Spell.

"See, this is why I picked you guys for the Axis. You know what shit's going on." Cedric confirmed what Eva had just said, before a large grin grew across his pale face and he threw the soul down like it was a smoke bomb. An orange cloud filled the room and a figure wearing a sheet emerged from where the soul made impact, moaning in pain as it stumbled around the room trying to gain a sense of its location. Screaming in fear, the members of the Axis either backed into the wall to try and avoid making contact with the ghost or moved into a defensive position.

Having no reaction on his face to the figure's inhuman movement, Cedric simply tore the sheet away to reveal a headless human skeleton with charred bone "Huh, I guess being in my stomach when I use my fire powers would cause a few burns. I'd estimate about 300 degrees celsius. Go figure."

"What happened to its head?" Heather squealed in disgust as the skeleton continued to stumble around the bar.

"I'm a serial killer who did 97% of my crimes with a sword; what do you think happened to his head? But we are going to have to solve that problem now that I think of it." Cedric said before making a pumpkin the size of a human head and a carving knife appear in his hand. The Mad Hatter then proceeded to carve a smiling face into the pumpkin, making a jack o' lantern that he jabbed onto the skeleton's neck, giving it a makeshift head.

"All done, look at that smile!" Cedric admired his handiwork, only for the pumpkin to sync up with the ghost's actual emotion as it let out an ear piercing scream.

This scream forced the members of the Axis and the Malevolent One to cover up their ears in order to prevent damage from the pitch and the volume of the noise. Only Cedric stood still, in spite of the fact that the wailing had caused his ears to start dripping blood, which he nonchalantly wiped away as if it was sweat. After a few more minutes of the inhuman wailing, the ghost began to desperately feel around its new body and panic when it realized that its flesh and head were non existent.

"Where am I? Why is it so cold in here? Who are you people?" The ghost cried out in a distorted voice as it shivered from the temperature difference, before it used it's new eyes to recognize the only familiar face in the room. Now both angry and confused, the ghost grabbed Cedric by the collar of his prison uniform, not noticing the scorch marks his touch was making "What have you done to me you little bastard? And for that matter, why aren't you little anymore?"

"I killed you in a back alley of Toronto, Canada about 8 years ago. And considering how I'm an incredibly handsome devil in more ways than one, I thought it might be beneficial to keep you around. So essentially, your immortal soul belongs to me until I see fight." Cedric somehow teleported from the ghost's hands and skipped over to his murder victim with a smug smile, before he threw his arm around the ghost's shoulder. However, this didn't last long as the ghost proceeded to angrily clench its red hot claws around Cedric's throat before throwing him into the bar.

"YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

While the impact would have killed a normal being, Cedric simply used his control over the dimension to reverse the damage done to his body and the bar, before generating a cigarette and lighting it up like nothing had happened "I take everything from lots of people, and that's why I brought you here. To help me ruin the life of my archenemy and crush everything he knows and loves before I break every single bone in his body one by one till he dies of shock!"

"And why would I help you do that?!" The ghost angrily asked of Cedric, who's smug grin simply widened at the question. It was then that the demon snapped his fingers again and somehow warped the skeletal being into a bartender's uniform with his control over the dimensional plane.

"You'll be assisting my alliance and acting as mine and the Malevolent One's employee in the Bloody Jackal Bar, and you'd better do a good job. Because you're not getting to move on until you get a certain part of you your missing back." Cedric said with a smile as he pointed to the pumpkin the ghost was now forced to use as a head, before pulling a human skull from his pocket "You want this back, you do as I when I say it, bloke!"

Realizing he was trapped by his murderer, the ghost angrily pounded at the bar and left scorch marks behind "DAMNIT!"

"That's better, now isn't Jolly Roger?" Cedric made fun of the ghosts surly attitude before handing him a pair of icy blue gloves "We can't have you burning down the entire with your hands though. These sub-zero gloves should do the trick."

"I have a name you know! It's-"

"Not important!" Cedric interrupted the newly deemed Jolly Roger before turning back to the other contestants "Now then, we'll just have to continue our original plan without Rudy. Win challenges, get rid of enemies and nuisances on both teams, save Beanpole and Lack of Personality Disorder for later, and keep your mouths shut. That dumbarse already raised enough suspicion as is."

"Any suggestions?" Jo asked, trying to please the demon enough to give her game an advantage.

"No one in particular at moment Cheerio, just go for the losers you know would cause for us or get suspicious. We need to be well prepared once I get out of these chains after all!" Cedric said as he relaxed and enjoyed the drink he'd just forced Roger to make for him. After taking a few sips of the brandy, Cedric faced the Malevolent One who'd been watching with interest in his portrait "Also, one last thing before you go back to beddy bye time!"

Suddenly, a long and thin shadow extended from the bottom of the portrait and extended itself to be right in front of Heather. Before she could comprehend what was going on, the shadow somehow rose in front of her and dropped a small blue egg into her hands. Being scared and a little grossed out, Heather reviled at the object she'd been given "What is this?!"

"Consider that a reward for your high performances in past games so far." The Malevolent One suddenly spoke for the first time, surprising those who hadn't yet heard his voice "Smashing that raven's egg on the ground will summon our bartender to help you during the challenge. Because you've proven yourself to be the best player here, you can decide who our first target will be; whether they be on the Vultures or the Hawks."

"Well, I'm glad someone knows a good player when they see one!" Heather said arrogantly after the Malevolent One's compliments, while the others just rolled their eyes.

After persuading Heather to take the raven's egg, Cedric snapped his fingers for the umpteenth time and caused the door to the bar to suddenly swing open "Get some rest lovies, we've got games to play, lives to ruin. You get the picture." With that, the members of the Axis left Bloody Jackal Bar, still visibly shaken by what the grim reminders of just what they'd gotten involved in that night. Once he was sure that the remaining members of the Axis had gone for the night, Mal stepped out of his portrait.

"You know it's a lot harder to move a body without anyone on that dumb island noticing. That idiot Lighting is lucky he's still got some use to us." Mal growled in annoyance at how poorly their intended first strike had gone "The less suspicious Mike or Cody are the better."

"Don't act like I haven't gotten the job done Mikey. Now that those lemmings know that we're serious, they won't dare disappoint us for a good long time." Cedric said as blew out another ring of smoke from the cigarette in his mouth "Besides, no one knows where you happen to be hiding. Not Beanpole, McPez Dispenser, the Inquisition, or anyone in your old boy band."

"That's not what's bugging me you idiot! It's that neanderthal Duncan! He acts like he's worthy of any forgiveness, when he's really just a low down piece of dirt just like every other human." Mal growled at the thought of the former delinquent "The whole lot of them make me sick!"

"Oh not this shit again! Get off your high horse Mikey, you've caused as much trouble as I have! Or have you forgotten how you ended up with me and Pride in the first place?" Cedric pressed Mal, who seemed annoyed by the demon questioning.

"No matter. It seems like I'll have to teach him a lesson just like we did back then." Mal declared with an evil smirk on his tan face

"If you're done with your irrational obsession with Pride, go make yourself useful. Go make some deals, work on getting these chains off of me, and grab some milk while you're out!" Cedric nagged his partner in crime, who simply rolled his eyes and walked out the door to the bar, leaving only a small black feather behind.

* * *

Later that night, Alejandro was being walked into the cabin by Chef after another attempt at escaping the island. This woke the other male members of the Villainous Vultures, managing to irritate them quite a bit, with the exception of Geoff who'd been acting as lookout once again "Damnit Al I just got back to sleep!" Scott whined as he'd been having trouble sleeping since his last visit with the rest of his alliance.

Alejandro didn't even notice Scott's irritation and was instead focused begging Chef to let him leave "Do you want money? I can get you money if you just let me go home!"

"Get enough votes, your contract is over for the season. That's how it works kid." Chef dropped Alejandro into hit bed before heading back to Chris' production cottage, leaving the now awake male Vultures to try and get back to sleep before the next day's challenge.

Since Alejandro was still noticeably terrified at the thought of the Mad Hatter, Geoff decided to console him once again "No worries bro, I haven't seen a single suspicious thing all night. Or any night for that matter."

"Who cares about the stupid demon! Just let me sleep!" Scott growled in annoyance before covering his head up with the pillow, getting him a few glares from Ezekiel, Geoff and Duncan. However, before Geoff could say anything to Scott, he noticed a shadowy unfamiliar figure in the distance by the Victory Lodge.

However, Duncan wasn't nearly as distracted and called out the dirt farmer for his insensitive words "Like you know anything about what Cedric did to any of us! Just shut your mouth and let him get it out! He deserves to have at least some closure after everything he's been through."

"Yeah! The dude's gotta have something to keep him stable while he's still here!" Ezekiel snapped at Scott, feeling a sort of connection with Alejandro due to their shared trauma stemming from Cedric.

"If that's the case we can just vote him off! No need for a basket case like him on our team!" Scott said smugly, resulting in Ezekiel throwing an empty pill bottle in his face.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Scott: "I know that Heather wants the loser and everything, but I wonder if she'd be willing to pick him as the target? But then again, if we get rid of Gwen then that would improve my chances with Courtney."**

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 **Heather: "Now that I've got the power to run my new alliance, I already have a target I've been looking to back at for five seasons now. I can't get back at Lindsay or Cedric for getting me kicked off for obvious reasons, so they'll be the next best thing."**

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 **Geoff: "I don't think that who I saw earlier looked like any of my hombres on the hero team, or an intern! Maybe I've just *yawn* been losing a bit too much sleep is all."**

* * *

Meanwhile, those in the cabin of the Heroic Hawks had already passed out and were slumbering in dreamland. The sole exception of this was Sierra, who'd been spending all night trying to find a way to break into the boys room which had been locked with the usage of Baron Samedi's talisman. However, the boys in the room quickly found themselves awoken by a strange shuffling around the bedroom. Sam was the first to notice, with the noise being the closest to his bed.

"Is it time for the challenge already?" Sam asked as he scratched his worn eyelids.

"I wouldn't put it past Chris. I mean, it's 2 in the morning." Noah groaned in annoyance as he cracked his back, and his bunkmate Owen rolled out of the top, before eyeing a piece of busted technology that had been left on the floor "Uh Sam, is this yours?"

Sam walked over to see what Noah had been talking about, and to his disappointment, saw a broken 3DS lying on the floor covered in a strange golden substance that had the consistency and scent of human blood "Aw man, Dakota got this for me!"

"You don't think Scott is messing with people's stuff again do you?" Cameron immediately suspected his old enemy from last season as being the culprit.

However, Cody and Trent didn't seem to believe that to be a possibility "Nah, with the talisman padlocking the door no one can get in or out of this place, as I'm sure Sierra has figured out." Cody sighed in relief, grateful that he'd managed to keep his stalker away from his sleep again.

"Maybe it was just an accident." Trent suggested the possibility, before realizing Mike was missing from his and Cameron's bunk beds "Hey, where's Mike?"

"Right here!" Mike said as he trudged from the bathroom, looking tired and confused "What's going on guys?"

"Someone accidentally broke Sam's 3DS." Brick explained, looking wide awake as opposed to his roommates "What's this yellow stuff on it?"

Mike took a look at the scene, and immediately recognized the substance in horror. Trying to hide his reaction from the others, Mike played it cool "I don't know, but it looks weird! Maybe it's part of a challenge or something!"

"Can't be, unless Chef teleported himself into the bedroom with us." Noah said, a little bit suspicious of Mike due to the similarities in his behavior to someone else's two years ago "You see or hear anything while you were in the bathroom Mike?"

"Afraid not!" Mike sensed Noah's suspicion and tried to deflect any further conversation "Actually, I think I heard Sierra still prowling around the door. We should probably turn the lights out again before she realizes we're still awake."

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Mike: "I know that what that golden, sparkly stuff was! I saw it every time I switched to a...certain personality of mine...But he's totally been gone for 8 years now! Yep, totally gone!...Heheh..."**

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 **Noah: "I'd consider myself pretty good at seeing through bull, and Mike was putting up a fine layer of bull last night. That, and I know his name sounds familiar. Who else do we know that has the name Michael Doran, is of Italian descent, and has multiple personalities? Someone who met Duncan _and_ Cedric in juvie! Something is up and I'm gonna find out what it is!"**

* * *

The next morning, Chris gave the contestants one of his usual early wake up calls by driving around the campsite in an ATV while speaking into a loud bullhorn "Wakey wakey campers! Time for today's next All Star challenge! Get your butts in gear and try not to suck to hard!"

"It's 5:30 in the morning!" Leshawna grumbled at the sudden wake up call in annoyance, despite knowing that this wasn't out of the ordinary for the game.

"We've just gotta get used to it again Leshawna. At least we're not getting woken up at 3 like we were back in Season 2." Bridgette reminded her old friend of the extremely early wake up calls they had to face during Total Drama Action "And I don't think any one could sleep during World Tour."

"That's true. And at least we've been getting the nice beds for the past few challenges. Knock on wood." Leshawna said with a smile as she stretched out her body.

"Easy for you to say!" Sierra said as she trudged into the room, visibly weary from her long night of trying to break into the boy's room "All that work and nothing to show for it!"

"Um, Sierra? No offense, but we should probably be focusing on getting enough sleep to play the game right now." Bridgette suggested to her teammate, a little bit scared by her stalker behavior along with the others in the room.

"Don't you get it! Two years and Cody's possessions have evolved from his time living in the Big Apple of Queens Island! I have to have the bedsheets he's been using, or his new toothbrush! And what about his boxer briefs!" Sierra rambled, getting a few weird looks from the other girls in the lodge.

This was especially noticeable from Dawn, who pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation "Sierra, we've been over this. Cody's mental state is bad enough as it is, and you violating his privacy certainly isn't helping it." In response to this, Sierra glared at Dawn and prepared to start yet another argument with her, only for Zoey to get in between the two of them.

"I think we should go see what the challenge is now! I mean, if that's okay with everyone." Zoey tried to ease the tension between the uber-fan and the moon child.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Zoey: "I wonder why Dawn and Sierra aren't getting along? Maybe they just have clashing personalities or something?"**

* * *

"Morning campers! I trust we all had a sleep worthy of an All Star?" Chris said to the exhausted competitors with the usual smug sneer on his face.

"Suck it McLean." Noah growled in annoyance as he trudged up with the rest of his team, looking tired and irritated as well.

Several members of the Villainous Vultures also seemed to have gotten very little sleep that night; Heather, Eva, Scott, and Jo found it difficult to sleep after their last alliance meeting, while Geoff had spent yet another sleepless night acting as a lookout for Alejandro. Courtney and Gwen also looked rather haggard as a result of lost sleep, neither of them feeling very comfortable after their last encounter. The sole exceptions to this lack of sleep amongst the cast were Ezekiel and Brick who were used to not getting much sleep due to their careers.

Ignoring the blatant annoyance of the cast, Chris smirked as he prepared to announce that day's challenge "Today's challenge will be a throwback to a personal favorite challenge of mine from all the way back in season one! Today you'll be participating in a paintball war!"

"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!" Geoff excitedly said, along with the others who enjoy paintball.

However, Duncan having remembered the other part of the paintball challenge from four years ago and felt the need to remind his party loving friend "Don't get too excited; half of us are gonna have to wear stupid deer outfits remember?"

"Actually Duncan, we've decided that for this challenge it would be a lot more entertaining if we cut the deer hunt out all together and just made it a full on war instead. If you get hit even once, then you're eliminated from the challenge" Chris explained as Chef handed out the team's paintball guns, with the Heroic Hawks receiving white guns and the Villainous Vultures receiving dark purple guns "The Hawks will take the southern side of the forest to defend, while the Vultures will take the North. To win, you must either overrun the opposing team's forces and wipe them out, or capture their flag. You'll have 15 minutes to prepare a strategy at your front before the challenge starts!"

"Seems simple enough." Gwen said, happy she was actually going to be able to defend herself this time.

Heather then asked "Is there going to be a reward this time, or this gonna be one of those season where you don't tell us if it's an elimination round till after the challenge is over?"

"Actually Heather, since we're back on Wawanakwa grounds again, there's not going to any non elimination rounds this time. Every challenge day will result in someone getting sent home at the end of the day." Chris explained, shocking some of the less experienced contestants "But! If you recall from back in the day, we can still give out rewards even if we are turfing someone. And just for the record, the reward we have planned for today's winning team is a good one! So hop to it ladies!"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Brick: "I've been hoping for a challenge I could use my knowledge of military procedure in! I have a good feeling about this one!"**

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 **Noah: "I'd hate to sound overconfident, but I think we may have this challenge in the bag. Cody and Zoey are the best marksmen in the game, and we've got powerhouses like Leshawna and DJ that** **won't go down easily. All I have to do is play our cards right!"**

* * *

Due to the northern end of the forest being closer to the main camp ground, the Villainous Vultures found that they were able to arrive at their base for the challenge much quicker than the Hawks were. As they all dispersed and began to discuss ideas amongst each other. However, this didn't last long as Heather decided now would be a good time to make an attempt at controlling the team "All right, I know exactly what we should do to win this time!"

"Who put you in charge again?" Courtney asked, her old rivalry with Heather rekindling itself again "I have plenty of ideas for your information!"

"I don't care who's in charge as long we win for once." Eva growled and rolled her eyes, not really being interested in their banter in the slightest.

Heather was annoyed with alliance member not supporting her, but decided to simply bound off her statement instead "We lost the last two times because we didn't have proper leadership, which is something I intend to bring! First off, Scott and Ezekiel are going to act as bait."

"What? Come on!" Scott irritably growled, still stuck in the back brace that DJ put him in during the last challenge.

"But I won a challenge yesterday eh!" Ezekiel objected to Heather's decision as well.

"As for our second wave, we'll need to have Jo, Dakota, Alejandro, Geoff, and Gwen. And for the trap wave we'll use Justin, Duncan, Courtney, Eva, and Izzy. Any questions?" Heather ignored the complaints and moved immediately into discussing the rest of her plan.

However, Courtney still wasn't very convinced and made this very clear "And why are you pairing me up with this cheating ogre?" Courtney pointed at Duncan, who seemed noticeably awkward at the subject of his previous actions. Heather ignored this and simply walked up to Eva, before passing on the raven's egg in her pocket to her alliance member.

"When you have an opening, drop the egg and bring in pumpkin head!" Heather whispered into Eva's ear, trying to make sure that none of their teammates heard them.

After discreetly sliding the raven's egg into Eva's pocket, Heather snuck back over to her team's flag and began guarding with her paintball rifle armed and ready. Gwen saw this brief conversation and was curious as to what the two would have to discuss with each other, but stopped herself when she saw Courtney angrily pass by and instead decided to simply prepare for the challenge and hope no one brought up the kiss.

Because his friend was in a confused state, Geoff decided to approach her "You still bugged out about yesterday?"

"Yeah." Gwen said with a dark red blush on her face "I mean, I don't really have any real preference between guys and girls, but I've never thought of any girl on the show like that! How do I deal with this?"

"Well, know that whatever happens or what you decide do that your bros and brahs will be with you every step of the way." Geoff tried to reassure his friend, though Gwen still seemed incredibly apprehensive "If you need help talking to Court, just ask!"

"Thanks Geoff." Gwen thanked before friend before continuing to load her paintball gun. However, her mind was then brought back to Eva and Heather's strange interaction, which was especially peculiar in that the two couldn't stand each other ever since Heather had been responsible for the former's early elimination back in Season 1. She glared at Eva with a mix of both fear and curiosity in her eyes, before noticing that she was holding a strange blue egg in her back pocket.

Wanting to know what was going on, Gwen carefully approached the temperamental girl from behind "What are you carrying that egg around for?"

"It's a Kinder Egg! Sometimes I get hungry." Eva brushed offer her question before picking up her gun and meeting up with her group "Why don't you mind your own business?"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Gwen: "I appreciate Geoff trying to help me figure out this whole situation with Courtney, but there was something weird going on with Heather and Eva and that egg! I got a weird vibe** **from that thing, and it's the same vibe I got from Cody when he was possessed by Cedric. Between this and the whole Lightning situation, I'm getting pretty suspicious."**

* * *

"All right ladies and gentlemen, let's get the ball rolling on this challenge." Noah stepped up to the plate with a plan once again, with a confident smirk on his face "Cody, Zoey, Leshawna, DJ: you're our best marksmen or our physically strongest players, so you'll go in first. Mike, you can turn on your Svetlana personality and go in with them. Know that they'll probably send in bait first so, be on your guard for multiple waves."

"What? But I wanna be with my Cody!" Sierra objected to Noah's decision, though he hardly seemed to care "Who are you to decide whether or not I can be in a group with him?"

"Excuse me ma'm, but we should respect our Commanding Officer's decisions no matter if we agree with them or not." Brick tried to calm Sierra down, only to get a very harsh glare from her. Ignoring it, Brick raised his hand and turned his attention back to Noah "Commander Noah, what will you have my position be?"

"You'll be paired up with me, Harold, and Owen in the trap wave for this one Brick. When the Vultures have most of their forces surrounding our heavy hitters, then we'll come in and produce a big enough explosion to wipe out their forces. Harold, Owen, please provide a demonstration on how this plan will go." Noah backed away and allowed the Dweeb and the Oaf to demonstrate things.

Making sure Owen was ready, Harold proceeded to take out a small lighter "For an ordinary human, we already know the chemical composition of farts as being 59% nitrogen, 21% hydrogen, 9% carbon dioxide, 7% methane, and 4% oxygen. However, Owen's farts are a complete anomaly of biology and chemistry. In addition to being supremely stinky, they also contain high contents of fluorine, propane, and wicked amount of ammonia." Harold informed his teammates before taking out a small clear bag of green gas, and placing the lighter next to it.

This caused a small explosion that blew Harold's hair back and managed to cause a few singes around his face "You can imagine how big an explosion we could create with a normal one of his burrito blasts. Thank you for your assistance in this diorama Owen; Noah, you make take the floor again."

"Isn't that a little...disgusting?" Bridgette questioned the plan for its plain and simple grossness.

"And boring." Leshawna bluntly stated with a smile on her face "But that's what I love about my Harold."

"Once the explosion goes off, our plan of action is rather simple. While the Villains are stunned by an explosion they don't expect, we move in and surround them while Zoey goes for their flag. Knowing their team dynamic, Heather will try taking charge and be too proud to put anyone on guard at the flag. So once the explosion goes off, we have this challenge in the bag." Noah concluded his plan before turning his attention to the remaining member of the team "Cameron, you can load paintballs into your armor right?"

"Yes!"

"Good, you'll be our Air Force to guard the flag. Sam, Sierra, Dawn, Bridgette, Trent: you'll be guarding the flag by land." Noah explained the final part of his plan, which got the approval of a majority of the team. However, Sierra continued to object to her placement away from Cody, and for Noah placing her with a certain other person.

"What? I don't get to be with my Cody for the entire challenge, and I have to be stuck with nosey Nancy over here!" Sierra pointed to Dawn, who merely glared at her in response "Who put you in charge anyway!"

"I've never claimed to be in charge Sierra, I'm just making suggestions! If anyone else has any ideas or strategies, I'd love to hear them." Noah said before remaining silent for a few moments to see if anyone else wanted to take the floor, only for no one to come forward. After a few more seconds of glaring from Sierra, Noah spoke up again "Okay then, I guess we're going with my plan then."

"Man, I'm surprised but that turkey is really taking charge this year." Leshawna said as she got in her group and loaded her gun "Wish he showed more of this side of him during Season One instead of loafing around and doing a whole lot of nothing."

"I wish we were able to do a lot of things differently back in Season One. Not getting mauled by a bear during this challenge was one of those things." Cody twirled the paintball pistols Chris had given him specifically. The Host was hoping for a repeat performance of the marksmanship Cody had showcased against Cedric during the finale of World Tour.

However, DJ seemed to be much less enthusiastic than his teammates "I don't know, what if I accidentally hurt someone again?"

"Boy, what are you talking about?" Leshawna questioned.

"Don't you remember what I did to Scott during the last challenge? I lost control for five seconds and now he's stuck in a back brace." DJ said with guilt evident in his voice, causing Leshawna to roll her eyes at the Brickhouse.

"Look baby, we all know that lying little turd deserved the butt whooping you gave him. And besides, those paintballs aren't gonna be nearly enough to hurt anybody outside of a few bruises. So suck it up and let's get a move on!" Leshawna encouraged her larger friend as she pushed him into the forest.

"Let's go!" Zoey followed her group into the forest, before realizing they were missing Mike, who seemed to be in the process of switching personalities "Come on Mike, we've got a challenge to win!"

"Just a second Zoey, I need to make sure everything is okay over by the flag!" Mike said to his girlfriend with a painfully wide grin and strangely stilted tone of voice, before walking over to the flag and speaking to those assigned to guarding it "Hey guys, good luck at guarding the flag guys. I would hate to lose this challenge."

"No worries my dude, we got this." Trent said proudly as he raised his paintball gun in the air, before high-fiving Bridgette,Sam and Dawn; he attempted to give Sierra one as well, but the grumpy fangirl merely gave him an evil glare before stomping off in the opposite direction. For some strange reason, Mike decided to follow her.

Now certain she was away from her team, Sierra began to angrily kick at a nearby stump "Stupid Noah, stupid Dawn, stupid Trent! Why can't they accept the fact me and my Codykins are meant to be together!"

"Hey Sierra."

"What?!" Sierra snapped at the person behind her, only to find that they were Mike "Oh, hi Mike. Shouldn't you be Svetlana right now?"

"Yeah, I just remembered something I needed to tell you before we headed out. Cody mentioned something about you." Mike pressed just the right button to get Sierra's attention.

Now fully focused on what her teammate was saying, Sierra rushed up to Mike and chirped at him "He did? What did he say? What did he say? What did he say?"

"Calm down Sierra, it's nothing to big! He just said..." Mike waited till Sierra was close enough to him before suddenly grabbing hold of her by the collar of her shirt and whispering into her ear " _Luuuuuuuuust...Wraaaaaaaaaaaath!"_

For a brief moment, Sierra's eyes glowed purple and she fell back to where she was standing, seeming to be in something of a hypnotic trance. With his work done and his plan set into motion, Mal followed after his team with a smug grin "Just thought I'd let you know."

* * *

Meanwhile, Chris and Chef were enjoying the perks of being the host rather than the contestant, which included enjoying high quality appetizers and champagne while they waited for the fifteen minutes to be up and to start the challenge. Currently Chris was enjoying a bowl of shrimp cocktail and was on the phone with a close family member, while Chef was preparing himself a small meal of a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich, chips, and a bottle of Dr Pepper.

"You know you're gonna give yourself a heart attack eating like that. No, not you sweetie, I'm talking to your Uncle Chef." Chris said into the phone while he watched Chef consume his lunch.

"Jokes on you pretty boy, I've been dead since the 40's!" Chef said in between bites and swallows, while supervising the interns preparing the filming and audio equipment.

"I've gotta go now, we're starting the challenge in three minutes. I love you sweetie, and stay away from anyone who seems suspicious." Chris told his child before hanging up the phone and lying back in his outside lounge chair "It feels great to be a free man again, not a care in the world. Know what I mean Chef?"

"Beats me man, I've never been to prison outside the phony baloney backstory I used when I was pretending to be human." Chef said before licking the remainder of the chip crumbs off of his hands and walking off "I gotta go use the restroom real quick before we start. Tell me if the kids do anything interesting while I'm gone."

"You got it man!" Chris said to his partner in crime as he laid back in his comfy lounge chair and enjoyed the weather of summer, as it brought back the sensation of a happy time he could no longer remember. However, he decided one thing was missing "Hey, one of you interns get me a wet towel!"

"Right away Mr. McLean sir!"

The intern followed the order to the t, and laid the wet towel on Chris's forehead "Ah, this is the life."

Chris sighed in relaxation, only for something to go amiss. Specifically that the intern he had called over had suddenly shoved the cold towel over his mouth and nostrils, and was smothering him with the water inside said towel. And to make matters worse, the other interns seemed to be either not around or didn't hear his muffled cries for help as they were preoccupied with the set up. After figuring out that help wasn't coming, Chris tried forcing the intern off himself.

However, this didn't work as the intern proved to be stronger, and only pressed the towel down harder in response. This gave Chris a view of a strange tattoo on his wrist, which appeared to be one of a pawn piece in a chess game. He didn't get too good a look though, as someone yanked the intern off of him and wrestled him to the ground. After rising back up and taking several heavy breaths in order to regain the air he lost, he saw that Chef had come back from his bathroom break at just the right time.

"What...the...hell..." Chris panted as Chef opened a portal and threw the man inside before turning his attention to Chris.

"I told you not to increase the intern's work time to 22 hours a day. But no, you never listen to me!"

"It wasn't that Chef!" Chris coughed irritably as he shook the water out of his hair and told him of what he had just seen "I saw his Pawn tattoo, that jerk was part of the Inquisition!...It's no problem, we'll just deal with after the challenge..."

* * *

"This bites eh. Why do we gotta be the bait for these knobs?" Ezekiel grumbled in annoyance as he and the handicapped Scott trudged through the forest and lay in wait for the first round of the Hawks to swoop in and knock them both out of the challenge.

They weren't even given the courtesy of paintball guns, as it was suspected that they'd be knocked out rather quickly anyway so it wouldn't matter "Get over it homeschool! It makes sense why you'd be bait, I mean, you're pretty much fodder compared to everyone else here. Next time we lose you're practically guaranteed to go home."

"At least throw my team's challenges on purpose." Ezekiel growled in annoyance with the dirt farmer waddling alongside him.

"Yeah, you just lose them on accident like an idiot all the time."

Meanwhile, the true first wave of the Vultures attack laid in wait behind the nearby trees. Jo currently had a tight grip on Alejandro's wrist in order to prevent him from trying to escape again, while Dakota was currently trying to figure out how her rifle "So I pull this pin thing back, and pull the pully do, and that makes the rifle work right?"

"How can someone be this dumb! I thought I was done with this when we voted off Lightning." Jo said before noticing that Alejandro was slowly trying to sneak away, and pulling him back down "Sit Ale-handout! We're not losing three times in a row because you decided to chicken out!"

"So, you think we stand a chance?" Gwen asked Geoff, who was currently crouched behind the same tree she was.

"Maybe, maybe not. You know me, I like to go with the flow." Geoff answered her with a yawn before reluctantly looking down at the ground and trying to find words "So, there's actually been something I've been meaning to talk to you about for a while."

"And what would that be?" Gwen asked, curious as to what her friend wanted to bring up.

"Well, being placed on the Villains team has got me doing some thinking and...I realized I never actually apologized for what I did to and the others back when I went all Captain Hollywood a few years back. I mean, I apologized to Bridgette but I hurt a lot of other people the way I behaved. You, Deej, Leshawna, Owen." Geoff recollected his past mistakes with a lot of guilt in his voice "We were such great friends back on the Island, but I feel like I messed all of that up."

"Geoff, I've already forgiven you for what went down, and I know that everyone else has too. Besides, at least you didn't sell out your ex and steal your best friend's boyfriend on international television. And almost destroy the world by proxy in the process." Gwen reminded the Party Animal of the blood on her own hands.

"Hey! Save the love fest for later ladies! I think I heard something!" Jo tried to silence her teammates so she could listen to the environment around her in case the other team took the bait.

"Explosion! There's going to be an explosion!" Alejandro began to panic again, resulting in him getting smacked in the face by Jo.

"I said zip it!"

Jo's prediction was right on the money, as Svetlana suddenly burst from the tree line began attacking the enemy in a grand acrobatic display "No one can best Svetlana in ze air! Prepare to taste glorious defeat!" Scott was unable to move out of the way in time, and ended up covered in white paint, while Ezekiel dodged each of the bullets as quickly as possible with another feat of agility similar to the one he'd demonstrated in the previous challenge.

While this was surprising to the other members of the Hawk's first wave, that didn't stop them from charging in to help Svetlana and try to lure out the enemy "What are we waiting for! Let's go kick some villain butt!" Leshawna declared as she and the others charged into the battlefield and began opening fire on Ezekiel, who continued to dodge the white projectiles relentlessly. Thinking that the Heroes took the bait, Jo ordered her team out into the open.

"They fell for it! Get them!" Jo proclaimed, even more determined than ever to score her team a win. However, when the Vultures tried to open fire on the Hawks, nothing happened.

Strangely, the Hawks seemed to know this would happen and smiled confidently "You know, there's a little something that comes with using bait. It has to be good to work." Cody with a cheeky gap-toothed grin before quick drawing his pistols and opening fire on the enemy, striking Jo and Dakota.

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Jo angrily cried as she was struck by the opposite team raining down, along with Dakota and Geoff.

"Not the hair! Not the hair!"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Cody: "I may or may not have used my** **telekinesis to jam the barrels of their gun. As it turns out, practice really does make perfect."**

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 **Dakota: "I only just got my hair back, and now it's covered in this icky white paint! Chris is gonna get it for this!"**

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 **Gwen: "Yeah, we might be dead."**

* * *

"Please don't kill me...Please don't kill me!" Alejandro slowly crept under the one sided firefight between the teams, specifically hoping that Cody wouldn't notice him. However, his silent movement was broken when he felt a small object touch his shoulder as he crawled on the grass. Even though said object was little more than a dragonfly, the traumatized latino immediately assumed the worst and ran screaming into enemy fire.

However, he got lucky and his random fire actually managed to hit DJ while the Brockhouse was focused on trying to hit Ezekiel "Nice shot Alejandro!" Gwen complimented her teammate while engaging in a firefight with Zoey, only to get a direct shot to the side of her stomach "Ow! Crap!"

"Sorry Gwen!" Cody apologized to his former crush before focusing his efforts back onto Ezekiel, who finally managed to escape their line of fire and head into southern woods.

"Damnit, homeschool got away!" Leshawna growled in frustration, only for Svetlana to step up to bat.

"Worry not comrades, for Svetlana will grasp victory from the jaws of defeat!" Svetlana proudly declared before flipping back into the woods after the renegade Ezekiel.

This left the terrified Alejandro alone at the mercy of the remaining Hawks "No...I don't wanna die...I don't wanna die again..."

"Dude, chill. The bullets are just pai-" Zoey tried to reassure her cornered enemy, only for the him to break out screaming and pointing at Cody.

"KEEP HIM AWAY FROM ME! HE WANTS TO KILL ME AGAIN! SOCCORO! DEMONIO! DEMONIO! DIABLO!"

"Okay, I can't do this." Cody groaned in sadness, clearly guilty about what happened to Alejandro two years ago.

"Well, somebody's got to! And..." Leshawna tried to sway Cody into moving, only to see Alejandro's scarred face contorted into pure, pitiable fear before he took off as fast as he could in the opposite direction "Okay, you're right white boy. That would be too heartless."

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Alejandro: "What was I supposed to do?! He's a monster!"**

* * *

Meanwhile, the second wave of the Villainous Vultures' attack was heading into the forest, not knowing about the slaughter of the first wave. Eva remained even more distant from her team than she normally was, and Justin seemed to be more focused on his reflection in the mirror than anything else at the moment. And Izzy was Izzy. This left Duncan in the incredibly awkward situation of trying to spark up a conversation with Courtney.

"Sooo...about what happened two years ago..." Duncan tried to put an apology into proper words, though Courtney didn't seem to be very interested in what he had to say.

In fact, Courtney decided to cut her ex off "Whatever you have to say to me, I don't want to hear it ogre. I've moved on, and really wouldn't mind never even thinking about you again. So do yourself a favor and don't even think about me either."

"Yeah, okay." Duncan mumbled awkwardly, not wanting to repeat the conversation he'd had with Harold the other day.

A few moments later, the awkward air between the remaining members of the Villainous Vultures was disrupted when they found Alejandro sprinted in the opposite direction of the battlefield. Thinking he was trying to escape again, Eva rolled her eyes before tackling him to the ground and grabbed him in a hold "He's coming! He's coming! He's coming for me!"

"We can't understand you when you're panicking Al!" Eva tried to get Alejandro to calm down, which wasn't helped by the tight grip she had on him "Now shut up and tell us what happened!"

"They beat all of us back there! The only ones who made it out of there were me and Ezekiel! Cedric is coming for us all and he's going to kill us all with an explosion!" Alejandro managed to explain what happened somewhat coherently through his terrified rambling.

Hearing that their forces had been that easily wiped out, Courtney smacked her forehead in frustration "Oh come on! How are any of you people supposed to be All Stars?!"

"We'll have to go for Cody first, otherwise he'll just jam our guns with telekinesis."

"Good thinking Duncan, but don't forget about Noah! That little anti-me is as smart as I am gorgeous!" Justin managed to break his focus away from his mirror for a brief moment, only to see a small white pellet heading directly into his face. Before he had time to react, Justin was hit right in the middle of his forehead "AH! MY EPIDERMIS! MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN!"

"The enemy has come gentlemen! It's a good day to die!" Izzy proclaimed with a mad smile on her face, before suddenly brandishing a large paintball battling gun and running right into the line of enemy fire.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Izzy: "Okay, so like this challenge was so fun! Enjoying the scent of paint and tears and my enemies and ex-boyfriends and girlfriends was such a great pastime back home. Even when I wasn't playing paintball! The community service hours were hard, but it's always worth it!"**

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 **Courtney: "It's bad enough that I'm stuck on a team with Duncan and...that girl, but why does my have to be a bunch of incompetent losers along with it! I've lost this stupid game three different times, and I don't plan on losing again, so we're going to get it in gear if it kills me!"**

* * *

"Stop chasing me eh!"

"Svetlana never loses her target!"

Ezekiel may have been able to miraculously dodge Svetlana's paintballs, but he still had no luck in getting the Olympic Split Personality off of his trail no matter how far he ran off the trail. Which wasn't helped by the fact that he had no paintball gun, and no way of defending himself besides running as fast as he could away from Svetlana. However, as the Olympian was running, they noticed a dark shadows running beside her.

"Baba Yaga? No, not important! You must not lose focus on ze goal!" Svetlana proclaimed as she continued chasing down Ezekiel like he was a rabid goat. That is, until one of the branches she was swinging on suddenly broke and caused her to tumble to the ground. When she finally managed to regain orientation, she saw that Ezekiel was gone and she was alone in the clearing.

"Ah, Пиздец!"

"What is ze matter fraulein? Have you been lost in ze voods? Zis place is no place for a lady zou know." A voice with a Hungarian accent filled the area around the clearing. A voice with such evil that it managed to chill the normally fearless Svetlana to the very core of her being. The voice then revealed itself to be coming from a red eyed bat, with its mouth stained in blood "A place such as zis, covered in ze blood of a past stained by a bird of prey."

"Bird of prey? Wait, you mean him don't zou, ze-"

As Ezekiel continued his run through the forest, Ezekiel heard an ear piercing scream which sound spooked him and caused him to trip on yet another tree root. After he stood back up, he looked in the direction that the scream came from, a large part of him wanting to go investigate what had just happened. But ultimately, the more logical part of him prevailed and he ran further south with a smidgen of fear in his heart.

* * *

Back with explosion team of the Heroic Hawks, Noah walked through the forest with a smile on his face, confident that his plan would ultimately work in the end "Well, we should have things just about taken care of now. Just gotta light a few fireworks and we'll have this challenge in the bag. Harold, you're sure the explosion will be controlled?"

"It's no question Noah, with the right amount of fire and a good estimation, there's no chemical reaction in the world that can't be contained by a good chemist." Harold proudly said before offhandedly mentioning "I still think we'll need gas masks though, just in case."

Just as confident as the others in his teammates, Brick decided to face Owen and check on him "You ready to light some fires Owen?"

"I think so. I ate a lot of burritos for this moment, and about thirty cans of beans." Owen stated, happy his disgusting habit was actually coming in handy for his team for once "So, are you experienced with girls, or breaking up with girls, or wanting to get back together will girls who dumped you when they became super smart after a freak plane fuel accident?"

Brick raised an eyebrow at the oddly specific line of questioning, but still decided to try answering his question to the best of his ability "Well, not really? To be honest, being a military brat doesn't really give you much time to actually get a girlfriend. Plus the fact that I'm into fashion makes most people think I'm gay. But I think I know what you're getting at with Izzy, and I'll be glad to help in any way I can!"

"Really? Thanks Brick, you're the-DUCK AND COVER!" Owen suddenly screamed when he saw that the group was walking right into a war zone.

The Heroic Hawks were currently continuing their run of good luck, having not lost a single member in their assault besides DJ, while the remaining members of the Villainous Vultures were doing a good enough job of holding their own against the stiff resistance. With the exception of Alejandro, who was currently cowering besides Duncan as a flood of horrible memories came back to him "Man, this makes me feel alive!"

"That makes one of us mi amigo."

Alejandro meekly responded to Duncan's declaration, while other members of the rival teams engaged each other in the fire fight. Specifically Courtney and Zoey, who seemed to be almost equally matched hand to hand combat and physical prowess. Not that this stopped Zoey from feeling bad about it though "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! So-"

"Stop apologizing!" Courtney screeched as she fought her opponent, and tried to gain an opening to shoot her.

However, she didn't realize that she had left herself open, as Cody was currently pointing at her with the paint pistol in his fake hand. By the time she did, Cody had already fired with the barrel aimed straight at her, leaving her in a very bad situation. Either she could stay put and be hit by Cody's bullet, or move out of the way and leave herself open to Zoey. But before she could decide which was the lesser of two evils, Duncan had already jumped in the path of the paintball and fired his own gun.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Duncan cried as he shot down Zoey, before being hit dead on and knocked out of the challenge himself.

"Duncan?" Courtney said in shock, which quickly turned into rage "What are you doing ogre?"

"Just moved before I could think. Now focus on the challenge princess!" Duncan said with a grin on his face, while he and Zoey trudged back to the campground in defeat.

Meanwhile, Eva was carefully examining the conditions of the paintball war from behind a tree, with her gun armed at the ready and waiting for an opportunity to release Jolly Roger into the fight and turn the tide of the challenge in their favor. It was while doing this that she noticed Cody was running over to Owen, who appeared to be struggling for some reason. Alongside were Noah and Harold, the latter of whom was holding a lighter for some bizarre reason.

"What are you guys waiting for? We can't keep stalling forever!" Cody tried questioning them to see what was the matter, getting an explanation from Owen.

"I've been trying for like the last five minutes, but nothing's coming out!"

"I was afraid it would come to this." Noah groaned in a mixture of frustration and utter disgust "Cody, you're gonna have to use your powers to vibrate Owen."

While Cody seemed equally disgusted as his team's leader for a moment, he eventually sucked it up and placed his hand on Owen's massive stomach which began to shake rapidly on a microscopic level. Eva watched this with confusion plain in her eyes, only to realize that Harold was reluctantly holding up the lighter into the air. Remembering what Alejandro had said in his terrified ramblings earlier, Eva connected to dots and yelled out a warning to her team.

"AL WAS RIGHT! THEY'RE GONNA USE CHUNKY TO BLOW A HOLE IN THE FOREST!" Eva cried out, before taking the Raven's Egg out and tossing it on the ground, breaking it into pieces and summoning the blazing Jolly Roger into the World of the Living.

"What the fu-"

Before Noah could figure out what going on with the strange skeletal figure, and how the Vultures miraculously knew of his plan, Owen finally let go and ignited the entire area in a blazing explosion. However, the explosion was nowhere near as controlled as Harold would have predicted, because of insane heat being emitted by Jolly Roger at the time. When the smoke cleared, everyone had been blown far away from the fight and or knocked unconscious by the pressure of the explosion.

Only a few lone figures remained to admire their handiwork, those being Mal and Jolly Roger. Mal looked around the forest with an evil smile on his face, smiling deviously as he took Alejandro's gun and shot each of the remaining Hawks on the field, while erasing Jolly Roger from every contestant who hadn't met him before "All according to plan, wouldn't you say Roger? Hey, are you paying attention to me?"

"It's her." Jolly Roger said as he picked up Leshawna's wallet and looked at one of the pictures inside, which was taken during the period after the end of Total Drama Island at Playa de Losers "I can't believe it's really her."

"Get over it, you're gonna leave scorch marks on that wallet." Mal ordered the ghost, before he noticed the bat from before he noticed the bat from before hanging on one of the few trees remaining intact "Besides, we have a visitor. I have to thank you for apprehending another piece of my soul Béla."

"Of course Malven, you know I am a fan of your past work." Béla said as he turned into a human, who appeared to be in his late thirties with dark brown hair and a mustache, wearing a WWI era Hungarian army uniform "Just as I am ze Zodiac's. I do hope to meet him soon."

"All in due time Béla, but for now you just focus on gathering more followers from the Hatters and more vampires. We'll need as much as we can get in the next eight weeks." Mal said as he retracted Jolly Roger back into the Raven's Egg and moved south after Ezekiel "Now if you excuse me, I've got a challenge to lose."

* * *

"That's weird, they probably should have been back by now." Trent said with worry in his voice, as fifteen minutes had passed since the explosion had gone off, yet no word on who one the challenge came through. Deciding to get a second opinion, the Guitarist contacted his Cameron through his earpiece "You see anything out there man?"

 _"I'm observing the circumference of the explosion. It appears that the blast was much stronger than expected. Everyone's just starting to wake up...That's strange, I don't think that there are any known bird species that big. Wait, what are you-AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"_

It was then that Cameron's feed to his team suddenly cut off, leaving the team without much of an aerial view "Cam? Cam?!" Trent tried calling into her earpiece, hoping in vain for any sort of response from the Bubble Boy. To make matters even worse, Ezekiel came charging out of the forest and their flag was in plane view "Girls, Sam! We've got a breach!"

"Got it Trent!" Sam said as he and the others tried shooting Ezekiel before he could even get close to the flag. However, just like with the others this proved to be easier said than done as Ezekiel was somehow able to predict where the bullets would be and expertly dodge them.

Only Dawn had any real shot, due to being able to read where he was going to be next just as well as he knew where the bullets were going to be. However, before she could manage to shoot him down, Sierra took the opportunity for a bit of friendly fire and hit Dawn in the back of her head. With the only person capable of hitting him distracted, Ezekiel was able to finish things by flipping himself onto a nearby tree branch. He then used the momentum of the act to launch himself into the air and grab ahold of the flag, ripping it off and winning the challenge for his team.

 _"Heads up campers, the challenge has ended and we have a winner! Thanks to some quick thinking on behalf of Ezekiel and Alejandro, the Villainous Vultures have finally managed to pull out a win! Heroic Hawks, I'll see you at the Congress of Shame later tonight."_ Chris spoke up through the loudspeaker, ending the disappointment for the Hawks.

"Crap!" Sam angrily punched a tree in frustration at his failure to keep Ezekiel from winning, before noticing Dawn was rubbing the back of her head in pain "What's up Dawn?"

"I think someone hit me in the back of the head." Dawn said while noticing that the paint she had been wiping off of the back of her head was white. She immediately expected Sierra, and would have spoken up about it had the loudspeaker not gone off again.

 _"Oh and_ _remember when I mentioned that the reward for the winning team would be a good one earlier? Well, they get to be the ones to send one of their rivals packing tonight! That's right, the Vultures will be voting off a competitor tonight!"_

"WHAT?" Trent said in shock, before dropping to his knees in horror "Oh shit!"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Sierra: "Yeah, I shot that** **home wrecker Dawn! But what was I supposed to do? She keeps trying to drive my Cody away from me with her vile lies! She had to go home somehow, and she would have if it weren't for the Vultures voting here!"**

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 **Dawn: "I'm no fool, Ezekiel had no gun and the paint was white! The only one who cold have shot me had to have been from my team! And the only one with a reasonable motive for doing it is Sierra!"**

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 **Ezekiel: "YES! YES! I WON A CHALLENGE FOR MY TEAM! WHO'S A GANGSTA! I'M A GANGSTA EH! WOOHOO!"**

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 **Geoff: *yawn* "I have to admit, we counted Homeschool out at first, but he really pulled this one off and earned his keep this *yawn* challenge. Heh, I really need to get some sleep. Maybe once Al starts feeling better."**

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 **Courtney: "First...that girl and now Duncan! Why do those two insist on making this difficult for me?"**

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 **Duncan: "I don't regret what I did. After everything I did, it was the least I could do to apologize to her."**

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 **Noah: "My plan was figured out. My plan lost. We lost. To Ezekiel. I am so screwed."**

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 **Leshawna: "Baby, I don't know what happened out there, but I don't believe for a hot second that my boy Harold messed up on something as nerdy as chemistry. Something was up with that challenge."**

 **xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

 **Heather: "This couldn't be anymore perfect. We win our first challenge under our leadership, our team gets to pick which one of those losers to send packing, and my alliance has decided to let me pick our target. And it just so happens to be someone who decided to cross me four years ago, because believe me I have a long memory! Helps that there's certain people who feel the same way."**

* * *

"Heroic Hawks, it appears your losing streak had to come to an end today. Welp, it had to happen eventually." Chris said to the jilted team of heroes as he adjusted the wreath on his roman emperor costume, before turning his attention to the other team "Vultures, I bet you're wondering why you're here."

"Yeah, last time I checked we were supposed to be enjoying our new digs in the Victory Lodge." Eva said grumpily, tired after a long week after sleeping on the lumpy, low-quality mattresses in the regular cabins.

"Well, I've been doing some considerations, and after examining a certain contestants performance in previous seasons as well as this one, I've decided that they were misplaced concerning their All Stars team." Chris said with his usual impish grin on his face, before pointing to a certain member of the Vultures "Duncan, please take your seat amongst your team and the first marshmallow of the night. Because from now on, you're with the Heroic Hawks!"

If he were the same as he was two years ago, Duncan would vehemently objected to this decision, but that was two years ago. Instead, he simply took everything before saying goodbye to his friends on the Vultures "Geoff, Court, Gwen, I'll see you all when I get to kick your butts."

"Don't count on it." Gwen said with a playful smile.

"Take care bro!"

"Unfortunately this also means you've gotta room in the loser cabins with your new teammates, and your vote from earlier has been cancelled." Chris told Duncan as he handed the former delinquent his marshmallow, before turning his attention back to the rest of the Hawks "Now then, the next marshmallow goes to...Mike."

"Yes!" Mike said excitedly as he received his marshmallow.

"Trent, Bridgette, Sam, and Brick: you're safe too." Chris announced as he tossed the heroes the marshmallows that represented their safety "Also safe, Harold, Dawn, Zoey, Cameron, and DJ."

"So, think we stand a chance?" Cody asked Noah, who seemed very nervous after his failed strategy.

"Cody, Noah, you're safe too!" Chris declared as he threw the nerds their marshmallows.

"Huh, I guess we are."

It was at this point that Chris began to glare down the remaining three Hawks who hadn't been declared safe yet "Leshawna, Owen, Sierra; you three each got at least one vote from the Vultures, and tonight, one of you is going home...Sierra you're safe." In response to this, the Uberfan gave out an eager squeal before putting Cody into another death hug "Leshawna, Owen; this is the final marshmallow of the evening...

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Owen."

"NO!" Harold immediately panicked.

"Say what?" Leshawna said in shock as Owen received the marshmallow, before glaring at the person she was certain responsible for her elimination "Real nice Heather. Real nice."

Heather didn't even bother trying to refute this, and instead merely gave her old rival a mocking wave "Sorry Leshawna, but it's just what mall shopping, ponytail wearing, Teen Girl reading, peaking in high school Prom queen like me would do."

"Why you little..." Leshawna growled angrily, before noticing that Harold seemed to be taking her elimination harder than anyone else on her team, which judging by the shocked reaction of the rest of the team was saying quite a bit. So she walked over to the seat of the Dweeb, and gave him a peck on the lips "Don't worry baby, it wasn't your fault. Now listen, I want you and all my other homies to stay strong and kick but for me!"

"Got it Leshawna." Harold said somberly, and returned the kiss.

After they had broken apart, Chris rolled his eyes and Leshawna's star dropped into the pit of fire before speaking up again "That's sweet in all but we've only got a half hour and have a lot of footage to edit. So, Leshawna it's time for your appointment in the Colosseum of Losers." After holding a thumbs down sign up to his neck, Chris pressed the button which suddenly caused a chain and collar to suddenly shoot out and grab Leshawna by the neck, pulling her into to Colosseum.

 _Elimination: Little Shop of Losers_

For a moment, Leshawna found herself covered in darkness as she tried to figure out her surroundings. Luckily, the lights in the room came back on to reveal that she was in a mall that appeared to be an exact replica of the one back in her hometown. While she would normally be overjoyed by this, there was something very off about the who situation.

"Chill girl, you've been voted off a sadistic reality show. No matter how good this seems you've gotta prepare for the worst." Leshawna said to herself as she slowly paced through the wall, just waiting for something to go horribly wrong.

Her instincts were slowly but surely proven right, as she felt hundreds of little eyes watching her from around the mall and a nasty sensation crawling up her legs. It was then Leshawna realized that nasty sensation wasn't goosebumps, but dozens of large wolf spiders crawling up her legs. With an ear piercing shriek of fright, she hastily shook and swept the spiders off of her before coming to a horrible realization.

The spiders were surrounding her on the floor, and thousands more were appearing from every little crack in the mall's interior "This is not happening! This is not happening! This is not happening!" Leshawna immediately began to panic and ran into the nearest open store. However, this didn't work as the hairy brown arachnids had already made their way in from behind the store and had their unfortunate victim surrounded.

As they overwhelmed her, Leshawna could only let out a scream of primal fear which was slightly muffled because of the spiders cloaking her from head to toe. It was at this point that the feed in the Congress of Shame cut out, leaving both teams to stare at the black scream in terror. Only Heather seemed even remotely satisfied with what she just saw.

"Man, that was even rougher than I expected! As for the rest of you, you're safe...for tonight." Chris said with an evil smirk, only for that smile to immediately drop when he saw a text message pop up on his phone addressed from someone referred to as HIM on Chris' contacts.

 _I'm sorry about the rudeness of my pawn earlier today. But I just wanted to let you know_ _that the Inquisition has become a bit more critical of what they consider the show's demonic taint as of late. Especially after that Lightning's words and sudden disappearance. I'll do the best I can to keep you safe for now, but be sure to sleep with one eye open my friend_

 _-Your Friend,..._

* * *

 **(A/N): I am sorry to any arachnophobes who might be reading this story, but keep in mind this is a horror story. And the only one more horrifying is called working through college.** **Which is probably a large reason as to why updates on this story and my other stories take so much longer than they used to. Come to think of it, I have homework in both Spanish and State Government when this has been updated.**

 **And in other, more unfortunate news, the people of FreshTV have announced that they no plans to continue with a normal competitive season of Total Drama. While I find this incredibly disappointing and saddening, it's also somewhat of a relief since as of late they really haven't been doing many good things with the original cast, and at least the canon universe can end off with the Ridonculous Race.**

 **Before I have a few credits to give. First is my partner in crime for this universe of stories, Lord NV. He's been a great help with this chapter and I highly recommend you check out his works, Total Drama Eden and Voodoo's Disciple: Peanut Gallery. Next up, CMR Rosa who has also provided me with quite a bit of help on this chapter and heavily improve the quality of the series' TV Tropes page (which I have now by the way), and also commissioned a full on drawing for the story. Which brings me into my next credit of qMargot on DeviantArt, for drawing up an excellent version of Cedric which I recommend you all check out if you want an idea of what he would look like in canon.**

 **Now then, I believe I've kept you all waiting long enough. Please leave a review and if you wanna see more, favorite and follow. See you next time.**

 **. . .**


	4. Truth or Scare

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own Total Drama. If I did then I wouldn't have to worry about school work anymore.**

 **Chapter 4: Truth or Scare**

* * *

In the past two years since the Mad Hatter Crisis threw the world into chaos, a certain group formed around the idea Cedric left behind after his first defeat. This group that referred to itself as the Hatters, and many of them worshiped Cedric as their savior in a new religion they referred to as Wonderlandism. However, others saw Cedric as a mere icon among criminals and supernatural deviants causing many delinquents and wayward monsters to join the cause.

At current, the Hatters were considered an international crime organization and held numerous small and large groups in many places around the world. One of these places were the slums of Chicago, Illinois where their chapter of the Hatters met to discuss business. Which for most of them, just meant discussing how they could commit more crimes in the name of the late Cedric von Túfeice. Two of these individuals were a pair of vampire brothers called Luke and Jan Valentine.

The former was currently drinking from a bag of blood that were usually held at blood banks, which were confidentially slipped to vampires as a way too keep the species' existence a secret from the public while supplying them with most crucial element of their diet "It's shameful that our once proud race has now been forced to take charity from homo sapiens. I dream of the day when we are allowed to freely hunt our prey like we did in the olden days."

"Screw that shit Luke, I just wanna mess shit up!" Jan yawned as he fiddled with the flat edge of his knife in a bored manner "Why dredge on and on about days we weren't even alive for? Why don't we focus more on how we can fuck shit up?"

"Hey bloodsuckers!" The leader of the chapter angrily addressed both vampires in pejorative terms. He was sharing a table with his inner circle, and was discussing their next move until the brothers unintentionally caused a disruption. "Keep it down! We're busy planning here."

"What that fuck did you just call us?!" Jan hurled his knife at the leader, embedding itself in his hand by shielding his face. The leader screamed in pain as his compatriots rose from their table, with Luke doing the same for his brother.

"Jan, you impulsive shit!"

"Can it, Luke." He turned towards the still-reeling leader. "I've had enough! We've been with you guys since the beginning, and you're still treating us like shit 'cause we're different. Heck we still aren't included in your little circle to hear out your so-called plans. Come to think of it, why do we even need plans in the first place?! We should just be impulsive and cause chaos, isn't that the core tenet of us Hatters? If anything, I should be leader since that represents me!"

Luke felt a cold sweat at where this is going. "Calm down, Jan."

"Is that a threat?" The leader asked in a low yet menacing voice as he drew out a weapon from his pocket. Ironically, it was a wooden stake. "Because I ain't backing down."

"Bring it on you–"

"ENOUGH!"

They all stopped after hearing an unknown voice in the room. Since none of them opened their mouths, they turned to the source and saw a tall figure in the shadows, leaning on the wall with just one eye observing them with an evil gap toothed grin and harsh glare.

"Who are you to give me orders, rookie! You sure have some balls in your pants" The leader jeered, having assumed this person to be another member of their chapter.

The figure didn't respond;instead, it simply stepped into the chandelier's reach, causing the Hatters gasps as they recognized him. Only Jan Valentine was anything other than shocked, instead having an excited smile on his face "Sir?!" The leader said, frightened. "Shit. Listen, I'm sorry man, I didn't–"

"Relax. I'll be lenient this once." Mal reassured him, causing a collective sigh of relief. "Gentlemen, we have business to attend to, business far important that your petty squabbles."

The split personality leapt onto the table in one fluid motion, looking onto the intimidated Hatters and smiling at their fear of him. How he loved to make humans pathetically tremble like this "There are big changes coming to this world in the very near future. By the summer's end, the disgusting old world will be wiped clean by fire and brimstone, and a new world in which only the worthy shall survive will emerge from the ashes."

"Really?H-how would that be?" The leader asked, a bit nervous with Mal's presence yet very interested into what the man was going to say next.

"Simple. The Mad Hatter Killer is going to be revived in two weeks, and we're planing to bring down this world of humans and replace it with something a bit more manageable. Specifically, managed by me and Cedric von Túfeice." Mal explained with a large grin on his face, which was shared by many of the other men in the room before handing the leader a manilla envelope "See those vampires over there? You'll need to have them complete an important assignment if you want to gain our trust."

Opening the folder, Mal pointed to a map of an important looking US Military facility "You see this dump? This military warehouse in Lincoln County, Nevada holds one of the most important items for the later portions of our plan. If you can retrieve it and bring it to this location north of Munich, Germany, then you'll have our trust and we'll be open to negotiations." Mal explained as he pointed to the coordinates on a map of Germany, before pointing at an ID number at the corner of the map "The object is in a crate under the ID number 9906753. Whatever you do, do not open this crate until you've delivered it to us."

In spite of all of this, Jan still seemed skeptical "Hold up pretty boy, how do we know that von Túfeice is actually gonna come back? Sounds to me like you're just sweet talking us into doing your dirty work! Don't forget, your just a normal human compared to us! You're not a medium or fair folk or a gate crosser! You're just a muggle!" Jan tried to argue with Mal over the task, only for his own shadow to suddenly come up from the ground and constrict him.

"Who ever said I was an ordinary human? On the contrary I cannot stand those chattering animals, and I wish to rain nothing but mayhem onto them for what their species as a whole has taken from me. So don't ever compare me to them again." Mal said as he glared at the struggling vampire in his grip, before dropping him to the floor "Have the assignment done and over with by the time the next episode of Total Drama All Stars has aired. Don't disappoint us."

With that, Mal stepped back into the shadows of the room before suddenly vanishing, leaving only a small black feather as proof that he was ever there in the first place.

* * *

 _Ezekiel woke up to find himself chained up to the wall in the cargo hold of the Total Drama Jumbo Jet. This was an unfortunate reality he'd gotten used to weeks after being found by a red eyed man in a top hat, who'd shortly after captured and began doing unspeakable things to him. The strange man had all but succeeded at breaking him, leaving him a prisoner in a husk that had now become a lap dog to his jailer._

 _His already poor nutrition upon stowing away with hopes for a second chance at the game had gotten even worse upon his imprisonment, as the chains that bound him to the wall prevented him from seeking out the foods scraps Chef left behind, and his captor certainly wasn't going to give him any. Now most of his hair had fallen out as a result of this malnutrition, as well as his skin turning a sickly green. Of course, he could still feel his body's pain in spite of losing control of it; this made the times where the red eyed man came down to further force his obedience all the worse for him._

 _He no longer remembered why he wanted to stay in the competition or the plane in the first place, as his only thoughts were now of freedom of this cruel Mad Hatter. Though he futilely tried to wrestle his brittle and mange covered arms from the chains binding him, Ezekiel immediately paused and felt his heart drop into what little stomach he had left as Cedric slowly come down the stairs with a large sharp toothed grin on his face._

 _Making matters even worse were the fact that he held his cane in one hand and what appeared to be a strange glowing orb in the other. However, he seemed to bearing a bizarre looking glove over the latter hand, complete with a glowing red symbol that emitted nothing but evil. While Ezekiel wanted to do nothing more than run away from this inhuman being as fast as his legs could carry him, his body contradicted him and acted like a loyal lapdog in Cedric's presence._

 _"Jack-be-nim-ble. Jack-be-quick. Sit." Cedric ordered his servant, who enthusiastically followed the order in spite of the body's best instincts. After seeing that he had his minion right where he wanted him, Cedric proceeded to wave the soul of his latest victim right in his face "I'm afraid I have some unfortunate Jack, your cover's been blown again thanks to that bimbo Hilton. Of course, I dealt with the situation in a way that nobody will ever be able to find pieces of her. Probably because I divided the slag up more than the United States' current political state."_

 _While Ezekiel felt a bit sick at these implications when he realized exactly which soul Cedric had in hands, before the demon brought the soul up to his face and breathed it in through his nose. It was then that Cedric clicked his cane sword from its sheath "This means that McPiggybank and his little reaper sidekick will be looking for you soon. Of course, we still have time for another...obedience school lesson before then." As Cedric's horrible laughter emerged from his grinning face and echoed throughout the cargo hold, Ezekiel tried desperately to let out a scream of terror that was muffled by his own body's refusal to listen to his conscious mind. All he could do as Cedric slowly brought the sword closer and closer to his decayed skin was silently beg for help._

"AAAAAAAAAAHHH! NO! SOMEONE SAVE ME! GET HIM AWAY FROM ME!" Ezekiel awoke screaming like a scared child from his sleep in the men's room of the Victory Lodge, waking up the rest of the guys on his team in the process. The sole exception to this was Geoff, who had forgone sleep for the umpteenth night in a row in order to keep guard outside and give Alejandro some form of peace of mind.

However, said peace of mind was almost immediately broken by Ezekiel's night terror, causing Alejandro to join the poser in his panic "HE'S HERE! CEDRIC IS HERE AND HE'S GOING TO KILL US ALL! DEMONIO! DEMONIO! DIABLO! DIABLO!"

"Ugh, why did I have to room with all the crazy people!" Scott groaned in frustration as the commotion caused him to jolt from his sleep "Think I can pull a Duncan and get team swapped?"

While Geoff glared and rolled his eyes at Scott for his lack of sympathy at their teammates' plight, Geoff got out of his bunk with a stretch and yawn "Calm down bros, I don't know what *yawn* you dudes were dreaming about, but I still haven't seen *yawn* anything suspicious all night..." Geoff spoke too soon as he saw the same figure from several nights ago suddenly appear from seemingly nowhere and creep in the direction of the loser cabins where the Heroic Hawks currently slept.

Stranger still was the fact that the being somehow phased through the front door of the cabin without the slightest hint of resistance, almost as if the figure were a ghost. Being the kind of person to talk first and think later, Geoff immediately brought this to the attention of the other Vultures in the cabin "Dudes, did you just see that guy out there?!"

"Guy? What guy was it Cedric?" Alejandro asked frantically as he began to hyperventilate.

"No, this guy was way too skinny and he had an emo haircut! But the weird part was that he-"

Worried that this would send the already panicking Alejandro screaming into the night for the twelfth time that season, Justin slapped his hand over the Party Boy's mouth before he could continue, and tacked his own explanation "Was a she! Yeah, they clearly had a feminine body so it couldn't have been Cedric! It was probably just Sierra trying to break into Cody's room or something, and she had her hair down so it looked kinda emo! Now that we've got that all cleared up we should probably all get to bed."

Fifteen minutes later, Alejandro were both back to sleep after taking another dose of NyQuil to lull them away from thoughts of their traumatic experience. Strangely, Scott also seemed a bit spooked when the topic of emo hair came up, but said shock went as quickly as it came and the dirt farmer passed out shortly after. This left Justin to lie awake, thinking about what Geoff had been trying to say to them before. It was then he noticed Geoff was still sitting up in his bed, staring at the window with weary eyes.

"Dude, Alejandro's out of it. You gotta some sleep man, it's not healthy to be missing this much." Justin suggested to Geoff, who had noticeably gotten more and more weary as the season went on.

In spite of this, Geoff brushed off the concerns after yet another long yawn "It's nothing dude, I've stayed up for way longer than this before! Just give me some Red Bull and a buttload of MMs and I'm good to go!"

"Yeah, but we don't have either of those things on this island man! And besides, you've gotten like 8, maybe 9 hours of sleep since we got here?" Justin pointed this out to him, before lying back in his bed "Maybe if you got more sleep you wouldn't be seeing people going through doors. Just saying!"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Geoff: "I guess Justin's got a *yawn* point, I really do *yawn* need to get more sleep in than I have *yawn* been. But I know what I saw, and I definitely saw someone or something out there. I'm thinking I should get some of my old Bass Bros from the Heroes team to help me check things out the next *yawn* time that dude shows up, and we'll see if it's anything worth *yawn* worrying about."**

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 **Scott: "Great, now Geoff is getting wise. I better tell the others before he causes us too much trouble, otherwise the whole alliance will go downhill!"**

* * *

" _Get your butts in gear All Stars! We're burning daylight on this next challenge and I'd like to have it done as soon as possible!_ " Chris yelled at the groggy contestants over the loudspeaker as they made their way to the amphitheater where the fourth challenge was supposed to take place. The Heroic Hawks looked worse for wear after their first night of going back to the uncomfortable beds of the regular cabins, which was not helped by the 5 AM wake up call before breakfast.

The only exception to this seemed to be the new addition in Duncan, who had already gotten used to sleeping on the lower quality mattresses during his brief time with the Villainous Vultures and managed to get a decent night's sleep because of this. However, Sierra seemed to be in the exact opposite state after wasting another night trying and failing to break into the men's side of the cabin. Even stranger was the fact she was now even more aggressive with her one sided crush than before, often shoving others out of the way who got in the way.

Luckily for Cody though, he now had the much stronger Duncan acting as his bodyguard to keep his stalker at bay "Alright Stalkzilla, I think that's close enough." Duncan held Sierra away from Cody, now trying to get at the object of her affections as if she were a starving raccoon. This was not helped by the fact she had already knocked over Trent and the unfortunate Zoey in the process of trying of getting to him.

"Shut up, filthy womanizer! I'm cuddling my Codykins whether you like it or-" Sierra would have given Duncan a hard shot to the kiwis if not for DJ picking her up and taking her away "HEY! PUT ME DOWN!"

"Alright, back of the line Sierra."

"Thanks Deej!" Duncan thanked his much bulkier friend, before turning his attentions back to the anxious looking Cody "Man, is that girl missing a few pieces of her brain or something? Could have swore she was gonna try bursting through the windows of our cabin last night...You okay man, you take your meds?"

"What? Oh yeah! Definitely took those pills! Otherwise I'd just start seeing or hearing things again, and we couldn't have that could we." Cody mumbled to Duncan as he slowly came back to reality, and the voices in his head and the vision of a grinning Cedric faded from the corner of his eye. While Cody still felt very on edge as a result of his fear, his mood bettered significantly when he saw Dawn walking close to him and Duncan.

"Do you mind if I walk with you guys?" Dawn asked with a blush as she brushed her hair out of her face.

Seeing that Cody wasn't going to come up with an answer that wasn't incoherent babbling, Duncan decided to bow out "Yeah, I was just about to go talk to Trent about this new rock band called Greta Van Fleet. Have fun you two geeks!" Duncan slid away and over to Trent, high-fifing the happy looking Gwen along the way while also accidentally bumping into Harold. Both hadn't talked since their last meeting in duel challenge, and had been avoiding each other even when Duncan joined the Hawks; Harold opened his mouth as if to speak, but instead opted to move away from his former bully.

"So...I heard from Trent that you practiced Wicca too?" Cody asked the Moonchild, who lit up like a Christmas Tree at the question.

"Yes! It's actually been the case for both of my parents too, it's actually how they met." Dawn explained this to her crush "My father is a Spade medium and my mother is of the Diamond suit. So as you can imagine they were surprised when my powers turned out to be of the Heart suit."

"Man, you're lucky Dawn! My father hasn't talked to me ever since he figured out about my powers and religion after last scene. Part of the reason I moved to America in the first place is because he didn't want me around." Cody said with a bit of sadness in his voice, which Dawn was able to detect along with seeing his aura go bluer than normal.

"You have quite the beautiful aura you know. It almost looks like a sapphire."

"Um, thanks." Cody smiled, now sharing Dawn's blush as they walked together.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Cody: "Holy crap, she's awesome! If you'd told me back during Island or World Tour that there was a girl I'd find more attractive than Gwen, I'd think you were crazy! But Dawn is just so cute, and sweet, and...NO! You're not getting mixed up in this stuff again! Not after everything with Cedric and Gwen and Sierra! Face it Codemeister, she's out of your league!"**

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 **Gwen: "Now I know why everyone got so mixed up in mine and Trent's business back in Season One. This shit's kind of adorable."**

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 **Dawn: "Cody's lucky to have such good friends to help him through these hard times he's been going through. I just hope I can help him through these hard times too."**

* * *

After waiting in the amphitheater of the camp for the past 15 minutes, Chris irritably stomped around until he finally saw the contestants arrive "There you are! I wanted you All Stars here 10 minutes ago! I've got a life too you know!" Chris scolded them as he walked up to the podium. To the surprise of everyone who had seen the state of the amphitheater last season in Revenge of the Island, it now seemed to be the original combined with the Gilded Chris Award's Theater from Total Drama Action.

"Hey, what's with the new set Chris?" Sam asked as he took his seat in the Hawks side of the bleachers.

"We had to replace the parts of the stage that were infected with radioactive activity. We wouldn't want any more of you guys mutating, now would we?" Chris gestured to Dakota, who merely flipped him off in response.

Meanwhile Sierra, tried forcing her way over to Cody once again after DJ was finally forced to release her, knocking over several of her teammates in the process. One of these teammates was Mike, who fell on his small friend Cameron as a result "Hey watch it!" Mere moments after that, the frustration caused him to switch into Chester "Damn kids, you have no respect for your elders! Back in my day we had respect for our elders!"

"Cody! I'm so excited for this challenge, aren't you!" Sierra proceeded to put Cody into yet another bone crushing hug, only to notice that Dawn was sitting in the seat next to him. For a split second, Sierra's eyes were as purple as her hair, and she suddenly grabbed Dawn by her wrist and tried to pull her from her chair "Back off witch! I'm the only one sitting with my Codykins today!"

"And when was that decided?" Dawn growled, only for Chris to intervene.

"The seating arrangement was decided by the order you arrived Sierra, and you're a few seats off!"

In response to this, Sierra stomped away to the next seat over by Duncan, who looked as happy to be seated next to her. However, the delinquent put his irritated feelings to the wayside and took the opportunity to give Cody a quick nudge, as his friend was now sitting right next to the blonde. While Chris would normally be overjoyed with the drama, the host seemed very eager to start the day's challenge and began his explanation.

"Today's challenge will be a homage to some of the grossest dirtiest, and most painful challenges from Season One. Say Uncle and Triple Dog Dare have been merged to form a truly terrifying challenge I like to call Truth or Scare! Our producers have developed the harsher dares and most revealing truths for you to do, and if you refuse to do one or last less than ten-seconds in a torture-dare, you'll be eliminated from the challenge. Of course, you can also put the truth or dare on a member of the opposing team in an attempt to get them out, but certain challenges cannot be avoided! Also, if you do a dare or reveal a truth that you were initially picked to do, then you get a freebie." Chris said as he revealed the dare box, contestant wheel and the assortment of freebie bottles "Now then, if there's no questions, let's get it started!"

Since the Heroes lost the previous challenge, Chris walked up to their wheel and spun it first, causing it to slowly but surely land on Harold's photo "Looks like Harold's our first lucky victim! Ooo, for your first dare you get a Total Drama classic! Lick Owen's armpit!" Chris pointed to the disgusted looking nerd, who was sitting in the front row of the Heroic Hawks bleachers.

While both boys grimaced at the thought of this, Duncan decided to lean over his seat and whisper a reminder into Harold's ear "Remember dork, you don't have to do the dare they challenge you to do! You can dare someone from the other team, remember?" Harold looked to the Vultures when he realized this, trying to think of someone he could dare, until his eyes laid on a specific person. It was then that an evil smile spread across his and Duncan's face as they gave each other a quick nod.

"This is for Leshawna! I triple dog dare, Heather!" Harold pointed to Heather, who had gone from confident and relaxed to utterly revolted at the thought of having to lick Owen's armpit once again.

"Nice one Harold! And another quick rule for daring others: if the person you dare does so successfully, the dare rebounds onto you and you've gotta take another turn! Bonus!" Chris merrily proclaimed before turning his attention back to Heather "So what'll it be Heather? Will you take another ten-second armpit lick to Owen? Or surrender right off the bat?"

After a few moments of thinking her situation over, Heather proceeded to throw up in her mouth before forcing it back down and loudly proclaiming "NO WAY! THERE'S NO WAY I'M LICKING THAT TUB OF LARD'S ARMPIT AGAIN! EW! EW! EW! UUUUUUUUGH!"

"There you have it folks, Heather folds in the first inning and Harold's gained the advantage for the Hawks!" Chris said as Heather's seat suddenly turned into a medieval pillory as punishment for her failure at the challenge.

"Nice one Heather." Scott rolled his eyes at their team's puppet leader, while Eva sarcastically clapped at the other end of the bleachers.

"Our brave leader everyone."

"Shut up!" Heather growled through the discomfort of being forced into the pillory.

"Now that we're done with that, let's pick our next lucky victim shall we?" Chris spun the wheel of contestants once again, with it slowing down by the second and eventually landing on Izzy after a few moments. As opposed to most of the other contestants, Izzy was very excited when the card that read her truth or dare popped out from the box seconds after she was chosen. Chris then proceeded to take the slip of paper out from its slot and read it aloud "Izzy, your dare is to drink a delicacy cocktail!"

"I'm sorry, but what?" DJ asked, fearing for exactly what Izzy was being dared to do.

"Whatever it is, we both know that it will probably be disgusting and or painful." Bridgette said to her muscular friend, being able to guess this from Chris' fondness for making them suffer Fear Factor like situations.

"To answer your question, Izzy will be drinking an assortment of the weirdest and grossest delicacies I could find from just about every habitable continent under the sun. These include fried brain sandwiches from Central America, rocky mountain oysters from the United States, hákral from Iceland, cazu maru from Italy, moping worms from South Africa, and of course deep fried tarantula from Cambodia. As you can see, we've left no culture left unrepresented in this purée." Chris listed off several of the ingredients as Chef dropped them into a blender, before puréeing them into liquid form.

While Izzy looked at the purée for a moment, she eventually threw her hands into the air and happily declared "Alright! Let's do it!"

"Um, okay? But, you do realize you can dare a member of the opposite team and try to whittle down their numbers right?" Chris felt the need to remind her, despite how he knew that Izzy was most likely not going to be convinced.

"I know, but that just looks really delicious! It reminds me of the food I made in the forest while I was on the run from the RCMP a few years ago!" Izzy happily reminisced her time on the lam, before snagging the glass out Chef's hands and slamming the entire thing in one gulp. Both hosts were in utter disbelief at this, and Chris actually threw up at the sight of it, causing Chef to grow a devilish smirk. In response to this, Chris merely growled and handed over a stack of dollar bills.

"Don't make deals with death pretty boy. Since when did you humans forget to fear the night?"

"Anyway, Izzy wins the first freebie of the challenge." Chris rolled his eyes at the reaper before handing Izzy the freebie bottle, which the girl happily accepted before skipping back to her seat.

Once she was sat back down, Izzy set the bottle off to her side before facing Dakota, who had been sitting next to her "You guys should really try that stuff! It tastes like-" Izzy tried to go off on one of her usual tangents, only for a loud and smelly burp to come up and go right into Dakota's face. This caused the fame monger's eyes to water, and her to release the contents of her stomach over the edge of the bleachers.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Dakota: "Izzy seems nice, but she really needs to learn to say it not spray. It's gonna be another decade before I get that smell out of my nose!"**

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 **Eva: "She may be pretty cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, but I'm proud to have Izzy as a friend. Most of these losers would have lost their lunch at the sight of that mess, but she managed to get it down in one go. It's a shame I can't invite her into the alliance."**

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 **Owen: "Man, how could I have broken up with her?"**

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 **Izzy: "I bet you all think I'm crazy or weird for being able to do that challenge so easily. But if Explosivo was so easily defeated by a simple meat smoothie, I wouldn't have the right to call myself the Esquire of E-Scope!"**

* * *

"Heroes, you're up next!" Chris declared as he stepped back up to the Heroes wheel and gave it another hard spin. Within a few moments of this, the wheel stopped on the photo of Brick "Looks like our resident army cadet and fashion enthusiast is up!"

"I look forward to it sir! I'll gladly answer any question or perform any task you have in store for me!" Brick declared with a salute, while Chris took the card out of its slot and gaped at what he read on the card, paired with his usual sarcastic chuckle.

"Oh man, I didn't think we'd see one this hard until way later!" Chris laughed a little pulling a small cotton swab out of his pocket while reading Brick's dare off the card "You're not gonna like this one Brick; clean the furthest toilet in the communal washrooms, with a single cotton swab. To Chef's satisfaction!" The host gestured to Chef, who gave the audience an angry glare and a monstrous growl for good measure.

"Hah! Good luck with that one Drill Sergeant Depends!" Jo laughed at her rival and mockingly saluted him, expecting this dare to be far out of reach and for him to back out of his promise.

However, Brick seemed more disappointed than anything "That's it? Really? To be honest I was expecting something worse." The cadet got out of his seat and marched up to the stage, taking the cotton swab out of Chris' hands and heading into the communal washrooms.

"You think Brick actually stands a chance at this?" Mike leaned over his section of the bleachers and whispered into Zoey's ear.

"Normally I would say yes, but usually the challenges involving Chef tend to even harder than the usual ones." Zoey thought as she remember the hell that the reaper had given her and the rest of last season's final four, before bringing up a topic she'd been wanting to discuss with her boyfriend for the past few days "By the way, you've been acting kinda funny ever since the season started. Has Vito been acting out again?"

"No, but that's the weird part! I haven't been able to access Vito or Svetlana lately, and the others don't remember when they last saw them other. I think that my first split personality might have something to do with it..." Mike theorized managing to confuse Zoey.

"First personality? You mean Chester?"

"No, I had another one that formed when I was a baby, but he was too dangerous to be around other people so we had to get rid of him. If anyone's causing my other personalities to disappear, it has to be him." Mike explained further, now catching the attention of both Cameron and Noah.

However while the latter decided the best course of action would be to wait and listen for any crucial information, the former was more upfront "You had developed a split personality in infancy? But developing a mental condition like dissociative identity disorder at such a young age has been unheard of in the scientific community!"

"Yeah, and he was absolutely off his rocket. His name was-"

"Done!"

Brick unintentionally interrupted the conversation and declared happily as he stepped out of the washrooms, with Chef moving past him and into the washrooms to see if it was up to his incredibly high standards "I'll see about that soldier!" Not but a few seconds later did Chef rush back out, panting heavily and eyes wide in disbelief before he collapsed to his knees and bawled like a mother at her child's graduation.

"IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL! THOSE ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BATHROOMS I'VE EVER SEEN BOY!" Chef said as he sobbed his eyes out.

"What? No way!" Chris believed this to be an impossibility, only to walk into the once aged and uncleaned communal bathrooms and see that Brick had somehow brought them back to their former glory "How did you do _that_ with a cotton swab?!"

"Initiation." Brick bluntly said before taking another sit back down in his chair, while receiving a freebie from the shocked Chris and a standing ovation from his team.

"Um, okay then. Vultures you're up again!" Chris droned, still utterly baffled that such a difficult dare had been completed in under 10 minutes. The host once again span the wheel of the Villains, this time landing on Ezekiel "Looks like you're getting a truth this time Zeke: Have you ever kissed someone of the same sex, and if so, how many times?"

"Um, what?" Ezekiel seemed more confused by the question than anything, but that didn't stop Izzy from getting out of her chair and excitedly pointing towards Noah.

"Oo! Oo! Dare Noah, that'll be hilarious!"

"She does have a point." Justin said with a smirk, greatly enjoying the sight of his rival squirming.

"IZZY!"

"Um, okay? I dare Noah." Ezekiel shrugged, causing all eyes to fall on the Heroic Hawks team captain who had turned a bright shade of red.

"Well Noah, you need me to repeat the question? Have you ever kissed someone of the same sex, and how many times if you have done so?" Chris asked the bookworm with his signature impish grin.

"I-I-I..." Noah stuttered for a few moments, knowing that no matter what said he would be raked over the coals by his fellow contestants. Eventually, Noah managed to suck it up and yelled in frustration "OK FINE! I KISSED A GUY! ONCE! ON THE EAR! WHILE I WAS SLEEPING! ARE YOU PEOPLE SATISFIED ALREADY?!"

Noah got his answer a few moments later when the chair he was sitting in suddenly gave him a low voltage yet painful shock, while Chris burst out into laughter "Our chairs can tell when you lie Noah! Looks like you've fudged the numbers a bit eh?" Noah's chair then turned itself into a pillory, trapping him inside and signifying his elimination from the challenge. To make things even more embarrassing for the bookworm was the majority of his peers laughing at him from the rest of the bleachers.

"I may have no room to judge, but isn't a little messed up he's been cheating on pipsqueak over here with other men?" Duncan lightly teased his friend and team captain, while Cody tried to hide his face by pulling down his hat and Dawn giggled at his response next to him. Noah noticed this and was about to give Duncan a sarcastic quip, only to felt his heart sink into his chest when he saw Sierra glaring at them both from her seat. And this was no normal glare, but instead a purple eyed glare of pure, murderous rage.

"Don't worry Commander Noah. I promise that we won't let your defeat be in vain." Brick distracted Noah from his fear with another salute.

"Now that that hilarity is done, I believe it's time for another hero to take their turn in the hot seat." Chris walked back up to Heroes' wheel and spun it once again, this time stopping on Sam "Sam! Your dare is fairly simple; Open up the mystery box, and deal with may happen to be inside for at least 10 seconds."

"Huh. Okay?" Sam was surprised by the simplicity of this challenge, but merely shrugged and stepped up to the box that Chef had brought onto stage.

"What are you doing you idiot? It's obviously gonna be something bad, so you should dare a strong player from the Vulture's to do it!" Noah growled at Sam from his uncomfortable position in the pillory.

"Not to worry dungeon master! If there's one thing that video games have taught me, it's that locked boxes always hold helpful items for the party!" Sam confidently said as he opened the box, only an angry swarm of wasps to emerge and begin chasing the gamer around the amphitheater "Ah! It's a trick box! Like Kid Icarus!"

"Sam!" Dakota yelled in horrified concern for her boyfriend, before glaring down the chuckling Chris.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Noah: "I got drunk once at a party okay?! I'm straight you hear me? Straight!"**

* * *

Sam couldn't manage dealing with the wasps for the 10 second limit and was eliminated from the challenge as a result, now stuck in a pillory where his seat used to be and covered in wasp stings. With the Vultures now having the number's advantage over their rivals, members of the team became more confident that they could keep their winning streak running. Of course, it was now their turn on the chopping block as Chris stepped up to their wheel.

Once the Villain's wheel stopped spinning, many of them cringed as they found that Alejandro was chosen for the next dare. In response to seeing his name come up, the significantly less confident Alejandro began to pray in rapid Spanish that whatever his task was wouldn't be related to Cedric "Let's see Al, your first dare of the day is...tame a lion!"

"Really? That's great!" Alejandro said excitedly, getting some weird looks from the other competitors. Then they remembered that this delighted reaction was likely due to the fact he was trying to get himself eliminated from the game and away from anything related to the hell he'd previously gone through.

"Alrightie then Alejandro, the only items you're allowed to use for this particular challenge are a whip and wooden chair." Chris handed the scarred latino the items in question, before gesturing to the intern operated forklift that was bringing in the lion cage he would be participating in "If you're still alive and uneaten by the time ten seconds are up, you get a freebie!"

"Not likely my stubbled amigo." Alejandro took the protection measures from the host's hands and strutted into the cage, where the door was locked behind him and he found himself with a territorial and hungry looking lion. However, it was then Alejandro was hit with a rush that he hadn't felt in over three years when he saw the ferocious beast in front of him. Then, to the surprise of everyone watching, Alejandro dropped his weapons and instead opted for petting the lion.

The latin then felt back in his element as he came down with a nostalgic fever and began to charm the lion in question "Ah, the mighty king of beasts! I could travel all the way to Africa and search the entire continent and not find a beast as strong and magnificent as you! I'd bet that your roar is just as mighty and majestic as your mane!" After a few mere seconds of this complimenting session from the rejuvenated Alejandro, the lion found itself lulled into submission as it calmly lie down in its cage, right as Alejandro's time limit ended.

"Wow Alejandro, I didn't know you still had it in ya. I guess your team has even more incentive to hang onto you for now!" Chris patted the confident Alejandro on the back as he walked out of the cage.

"Why, thank you my-..." Alejandro paused as he realized he had just worsened his chances at getting eliminated and leaving the game, before screaming in frustration "OH COME ON!"

"Okay then, here's your freebie!" Chris gave the disappointed latin his freebie bottle, before turning his attention back to the hero wheel. This time, the wheel landed on a certain surfer girl "Congratulations Bridgette, your dare is fighting a bull!"

"Fighting? Bull?!" Bridgette said in shock, horrified at the prospect of not only hurting an animal but being face to face with a dangerous and furious animal.

"Yes, yes. PETA's gonna neuter us for this challenge, we've established that fact." Chris said as he ripped up the card, and reminded Bridgette of her situation "Remember Bridgette, you can also dare a member of the opposing team and try to get them out. But if they succeed, then you'll have to draw another card."

This reminder made the situation even more confusing for Bridgette, as Heather had already been disqualified and challenging Alejandro would be like rubbing salt in the wound, and there wasn't anyone else on the Vulture's that she disliked enough to force into such a dangerous situation. As such Bridgette resolved to give the dare to someone she knew would be experienced enough to be in less danger "Uh, I don't know, Ezekiel?"

"Fighting a bull? No problem foshizzle!" Ezekiel confidently stood up upon being challenged and cracked his knuckles "Let's do this eh!"

However, this confidence quickly vanished when Chris revealed another part of the card he'd deliberately left off for his own amusement "Oh I'm sorry, did I say fighting a bull? I meant fighting a bull shark!"

"A what?!"

* * *

Ezekiel's fated fight with the mighty bull shark didn't go nearly as well as his past few challenges due to his speed being reduced underwater, and his seat had been turned into a pillory with the rest of the disqualified contestants. Jo stepped up to bat for the Vultures next, and proceeded to lay down the dare of running around the circumference of the island onto Brick with a time limit of 24 minutes. But to her surprise, the cadet was able to complete the challenge with two minutes to spare, causing the dare to recoil back onto her.

This resulted in her being forced to admit that she herself had once wet her pants back in middle school, much to the amusement of both Brick and her alliance members "Great. I suppose you're going to come up with all sorts of nicknames for me now, aren't you Private Piss?"

"Nope. But I expect you to grant me the same courtesy now." Brick said with a grin as he sat back in his seat after another successful dare.

"Yeah, but that won't stop the rest of us from making fun of you." Scott told her with an evil smile "Duchess of Spastic Bladders!" This response got a rock thrown at his head, courtesy of Jo.

"As funny as this, we've really gotta keep moving." Chris rolled the heroes' wheel for the umpteenth time, before it slowed to a stop on Cody. The host with the most then took to the resulting card out from the connected box, before a large grin spread across his face and he began to chuckle even more deeply than usual "Oh dude, this is gonna be wicked! It's our first unavoidable and it's a good one! Kiss the person sitting next to you, whether they be bro or brah!"

"WHAT?!" Sierra shrieked with rage as she realized as she realized that not only was she not sitting next to Cody by any stretch, but just who was sitting beside him at the moment.

"Wait, really?" Cody asked in a high pitched tone as he looked at the just as surprised Dawn to his left, his heart rate now going through the roof. However, his heart rate sped up in a completely different way when he realized that Duncan was sitting to his right. Going the exact same conclusion that Cody did, Duncan responded by leaping from his seat and sprinting away from the amphitheater as fast as his legs could carry him.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Duncan: "Don't get me wrong, I like the pipsqueak and all, but I don't like him that much! I'm sure if I'd stayed, Chris would have just made us kiss each other; and after Season 3, we don't need anyone else in the fandom thinking we're gay. Besides, I'm sure he'd prefer the kiss he actually got way more."**

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 **Cody: "THANK YOU DUNCAN! THANK YOU SO MUCH!"**

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 **Dawn: Okay Dawn, deep breaths. Deep breath. It's just a kiss. It's just a kiss...Oh who am I kidding *squeals***

* * *

With Duncan having now ran away from the challenge area and hiding in the confession cam, Cody and Dawn were now facing each other with large blushes and subdued smiles on their faces "Uh, just so you know, I've never really done this before. So I'm sorry if I'm bad."

"That's funny, I was just about to say the same thing! But, I hope this will be an enjoyable experience for the both of us if nothing else." Dawn responded with equal awkwardness, before moving past her nerves and puckering up. Cody had large butterflies in his stomach at this, but managed to push them down and kiss Dawn back. Seeing this kiss surprised most of the contestants, but those who were close with either Cody or Dawn reacted with excitement.

This was especially true for Zoey, who was trying to hold in a squeal of excitement, and Gwen and Trent giving each other thumbs up. The only exceptions to these reactions happened to be Scott, who mockingly gagged at the two that he'd bullied in the past sharing a moment, and Sierra who'd bore a look of absolute fury only surpassed in the game by Eva and Cedric at their most enraged. This came to a boiling point about five seconds into the kiss, at which point she'd angrily thrown Dawn off the object of her affections.

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY CODY YOU SLUT!"

"Sierra what the-" Cody tried to stop Sierra's rampage, only to be pinned back down in his seat by the fangirl.

"Listen here and listen good, I did not wait five seasons to let you give your first kiss to some bleach blonde hussy! Now, you're going to kiss me right now, or I'm going to-" Sierra screamed in Cody's face, only to be put in a hold by Chef "Let go of my you glorified crossing guard! I want my kiss!"

"Sit your butt back down Sierra! Unfortunately you didn't meet the 10 second requirement before Sierra tore you apart, so that means both you and Dawn are eliminated for the challenge Cody. Furthermore, Sierra is also eliminated for interfering with a dare." Chris revealed as Cody and Dawn were suddenly put into pillories, while Sierra was locked into her's by Chef. It was at this point that Duncan awkwardly slid back into his seat after having heard the commotion.

"Man harsh dude." Geoff yawned, just as surprised as everyone else with what had just happened despite barely being awake for most of it.

"If you think that's harsh Geoff, then you're in for a world of pain. Because it's your turn next." Chris said as he gestured to the wheel that had just landed on Geoff, before pulling out the dare card from the selection box "Wow, two unavoidable in a row. And this one is one of my favorites! You've gotta do the briarwood skate ramp of death: wild man edition!"

Tuning out the 'briarwood' and 'of death' parts of the host's statement, Geoff proceeded to let out his typical cheer "Woo hoo, skate ramp!...What does wild man edition mean?"

* * *

Geoff shortly thereafter wished he hadn't asked that asked question as he found himself standing on a skateboard in front an incredibly long and dangerous looking skate ramp which would require extreme precision to make it through in one piece. For an added element of treachery and humiliation, but the ramp was surrounded by a threatening looking briar patch from all directions, and he was now forced completely into the nude.

"The Briarwood Skate Ramp of Death: Wild Man Edition is quite possibly the sickest race course our team of producers could have come up with outside of the Euthanasia Coaster by Julijonas Urbonas. In order to complete the dare you must strip down to your birthday suit, and maneuver your way through the bramble covered ramp, _unharmed!_ " Chris said to Geoff with his usual sadistic favor, while the party animal stared down the large drop before him.

There to watch happened to be several of Geoff's close friends from the game including Gwen, Duncan, DJ, and Bridgette, all of whom seemed more than a little concerned "There's no way that this thing is even legal!" Gwen said in shock as she looked at the ramp.

"It's perfectly legal Gwen! At least in certain parts of Somalia, and that's who we asked!" Chris said nonchalantly, getting himself several glares from those there.

After she finished glowering at Chris, Bridgette put a hand on her boyfriend's shoulder "You know you don't have to do this Geoff. Your safety is more important than a challenge!" It was after a few seconds that she realized Geoff had fallen asleep standing up, but that didn't stop the skateboard he was on from rolling forward and closer to the slope "Wait Geoff!"

"Wake up dude!" Duncan yelled as he and the others ran forward to try and catch the party animal before he made his descent.

"Uh macaroni! What was I doing?" Geoff was roused awake by the calls of his friends, but by that point it was too late and he'd gone over the edge with a scream.

"I can't look!" DJ covered his eyes, not wanting to see whatever painful scenario Geoff was about to be put through.

"You really should dude, this is gonna be ratings central!"

While Geoff screamed in terror on his way down, he managed to calm himself down and gain bearings on his skateboard by the time he made his first turn. Not that it made the coming loop any harder to made it through, nor the ollie gap in between ramps. However, now Geoff had forgotten what danger he was in, and was now having the time of his life skating along the dangerous ramp "Holy shit man, this is awesome! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO! WOOOOOOOooooooo _oooooooo"_ Unfortunately for Geoff, his lack of sleep caught up with him once again as he dozed off on the board, causing him to veer right and go flying off the ramp.

"GEOFF!" Bridgette cried in horror as the now fully awake Geoff screamed and landed painfully into one of the nearby briar patches.

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Chris: "Dudes did you see that? I'd like to see anyone but me host this show and try to come up with that brand of Kafka comedy? What would they do, use a toilet as an elimination method?!"**

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 **Gwen: "Okay, that's it. We're holding an intervention. I'm not exactly sure for who at this point, but it's gonna be someone!"**

* * *

After a quick trip to the infirmary to get the various thorns and prickers from his body, the passed out Geoff joined his fellow disqualified contestants in the pillory where his seat used to be as the number of contestants who were still in the game continued to dwindle. Not that it disappointed Chris though, as he always enjoyed tormenting the young adults with the sickest twists he could possibly imagine. Now that the Vulture's had just gone, it was the Hawks' turn to take a spin.

"Harold, you're going up for another go!" Chris told the dweeb as he prepared to read off the card "Truth: Do you have a crush on someone from the opposite team?"

"Hmmm." Harold took a moment to think this situation over and come up with a good strategy. He could either simply say no and take the freebee, or he could take a risk and shoot for one of the more prideful members of the Vulture's in hopes that they did have a crush on someone from their team. After a few more moments of pondering, Harold came to a decision "Eva, I dare you to answer."

To the joy of the dweeb, Eva looked utterly shellshocked by the question and nervously looked around to hope no one noticed her anxiety. This was not helped by the fact that Chris began to prod at her for an answer "Well Eva, anyone from the Heroic Hawks that you wanna get freaky with?"

"Shut up already McLean!" Eva yelled in anger as she tried to discern what would be the less humiliating option "YES! I like a guy from the Hawks team!"

"Woah. I was not expecting that." Scott said, shocked that the infamous iron woman had it in her to feel romantic attraction.

"There you have it ladies and gents. So if any of you guys that aren't Cody have any not so secret admirers, now you know who to look out for!" Chris said before turning his attention back to Harold and pressing a certain button on the selection box "You know what that's means Harold! You're past due for a rebound dare! And it just so happens you have to take a 10 second shower in shower 9B, in the newly refurbished communal washrooms."

"Isn't that the shower Leshawna rigged to dump raw sewage onto Heather that one time?" Trent asked, getting a quick nod from Chris.

"While Harold ponders his incredibly poor decision making, why don't we do a quick throwback to season one and see who had less courage than Eva and cried uncle!" Chris declared in a familiar line.

* * *

After Harold failed to complete his next dare, Jo decided to take the dare she was selected for head on as a direct challenge to Brick, who had managed to tank the past few dares he'd been given with little to no problem. However this backfired when said dare turned out to be getting pressed under a platform that a grizzly bear and yeti were having a tea party on. In spite of the incredible pain that she'd been going through, Jo's pride refused to let her cry uncle.

"It's tea time for Jo!"

"I'm not gonna...ugh!"

* * *

"Wooden shorts?" Mike questioned the threat of yet another classic Total Drama torture, specifically having a pair of wooden pants locked around his waist "Big deal!"

His confident attitude lasted only as long as it took Chef to take out the woodpecker.

* * *

"And the randomized pop music torture!" Chris watched merrily as Gwen struggled to listen to whatever banal pop music that Chris was making her listen to.

His smile lasted just as long as it took Gwen to get sick of the song and throw the headphones "She's said Friday over 26 times! And writes a lyric about picking front seat or back seat?!"

* * *

"Gotta love those bullet ants!" Chris watched the bullet arms crawl up Trent's arm before the musician eventually collapsed from the pain "You're up next Justin. And it's an unavoidable!"

"Oh big whoop, I'll do anything as long as it doesn't get my epidermis damaged." Justin confidently said as he lay back in his seat.

"Let's see here...your dare is to let us scratch you any where on your body!"

* * *

The next dare was even stranger than last several as it for some reason involved Cameron dancing to a jazzercise video with one of the fake mullets Chris kept for every season on his head "I don't even know what's up with this one man."

* * *

After Cameron's surreal dare eventually ended in his failure, Scott tried send a dare in Zoey's direction in which she was forced to peel flaming potatoes. However this backfired in the end as Zoey managed to survive the dare, causing it to recoil back onto him in the process. This resulted in him being forced to take on a dare in which it allowed an enemy of his to slap him repeatedly in the face. Since Zoey was the only remaining enemy, she stepped which much willingness.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do this, you lying, bloodsucking jerk!" Zoey declared as she smacked her arch enemy around the amphitheater.

"I think-OW-now would you-OW-please-OW-stop-OW-egg whites only!" Scott said as he finally passed out and was eliminated from the challenge.

* * *

"Owen, your dare is to hurt Chef's feelings." Chris said to the overweight contestant as he stepped up onto the stage in order to do the dare that Eva challenged him to do.

"Uuuuum..." Owen tried to come up with a way to hurt Chef's feelings, but couldn't come up with an insult that he didn't think would be too mean. After a few minutes of stuttering and trying to come up with a good enough response, Owen spoke "...Your cooking is too good! Is that good enough?"

"Really dude? Really?" Chris smacked his forehead in disbelief at just how naive Owen was.

* * *

After the number of contestants still in the running had dropped down to five, Alejandro got stuck with an especially sadistic unavoidable that pit him against one of his worst fears. Specifically Cody, who was currently trapped in a pillory along with the majority of his team "Just say hi to him dude and you're good." Alejandro looked back at Chris, and then to Cody who waved at him with his flesh hand. This was all it took to get the traumatized man running away from the amphitheater at an incredible pace.

"DEMON!"

"Well, guess he's out. Chef!" Chris gestured his cohost to go retrieve Alejandro before he made another attempt at flying the coop, before facing the remaining members of each team "Courtney, Izzy, Brick, Duncan. It's taken us like 6 hours but we're almost over. Let's start with your next dare Courtney. Touch any scar or burn that hasn't faded on your body."

"What? But I don't have any scars!" Courtney objected to this unfair dare, before remembering she could dare a member of the other team. She decided to go with the person she was sure had plenty of scars "I dare Duncan."

To her surprise, Duncan seemed absolutely horrified at the prospect of this dare as did many of his friends from the past few years. This confused those who weren't very familiar with Duncan, such as Dawn who had seen his aura go a bright green "What's the matter Duncan. Don't you have any scars?"

"Yeah, but there's only one that hasn't faded." Duncan said robotically as he reluctantly removed his shirt to reveal a set of cigarette burns that spelled out _PRIDE_ on his stomach. Those who had known what Duncan went through in Season 3 knew exactly where he got that scare and reacted with a shocked gasp, but none more so than Courtney. After having removed his shirt to reveal the burn to Chris, Duncan slowly brought his hand up to the burn only to stop the tips of his fingers away.

After about half a minute of uncomfortable silence, Duncan finally caved "I can't do it!"

"Man, lot of stuff being stirred up this challenge, eh Courtney?" Chris said as he gave her a harsh glare.

"I-I didn't know that was his only scar! I'm sorry!" Courtney gave the rare apology that would ever come from her mouth, while Chris walked back to the selection box and simply pressed the button as Brick was now the only remaining member of the Heroes' team and the wheel for them was no longer necessary.

"Brick, your next challenge is to drink 13 shots worth of Chef's patented recipe of blended cockroach." Chris gestured to the Grim Reaper, who was making the aforementioned drinks for someone to drink. While he was hoping that Brick would dare one of the two remaining Vultures, Chris inwardly knew the Cadet would simply do the dare on his own like he had been doing the entire challenge. Izzy had been following a similar strategy throughout the entire challenge and as a result, both contestants had amassed over 20 freebies.

As predicted Brick did the dare in under three minutes, though he seemed to be a little bit green by the end of it, and the baton was now passed to either Izzy or Courtney. Chris span the wheel with only two Vultures left remaining on it,only for it to slow to halt only a few notches away from Courtney "Your turn again Miss CIT! And it looks like this time you've been stuck with an unavoidable truth and it's a good one! Do you have any feelings for Gwen? And no, hate doesn't count!"

"What? Of course I don't have any feelings for that boyfriend stealing-" Courtney made an attempt at denying this, only for the chair she was sitting on to shock her in response "What? This chair must be fixed or something!"

"The chair doesn't lie Courtney. But apparently someone does, eh Gwen?" Chris teased the goth a bit about her apparently mutual attraction with Courtney, resulting in a large blush spreading across Gwen's face. She looked over to the Heroes' bleachers to see Bridgette, Cody, and Duncan giving her thumbs up from their pillories like she had done for Cody and Dawn earlier that day, but she saw Trent looking somberly to the ground.

"Now that we've been whittled down to 2 unlikely competitors, and I don't think either of you will stop getting freebies any time soon, I'm afraid we're about to enter the sudden death round!" Chris said to Izzy and Brick as they got out of their seats and stood next to him on the stage "You'll keep doing dares perpetually until one of you eventually caves and cries uncle. This could take seven minutes! Or it could take seven hours! Any volunteers for the first go?"

"Oo! Me! Me!" Izzy stepped up to bat for Brick could even get a word in.

Chris expected this and pressed the button on the selection box that automatically released the mad woman's dare, which he then proceeded to read off "Now then Izzy, your dare is to defeat Chef at arm wrestling. But the catch is, this time he's using his reaper powers instead of holding himself back in human form!" Chris gestured to Chef, who was now grinning evilly and rolling up his sleeve to reveal that the skin around his arm had translucent and showing only the bone and a thin outline of light.

"Think you're up to it Izzy?"

"Oh you bet I am!" Izzy said with a grin similar to that of Chef, as she and the reaper walked up to the table where they would have their match. With their right elbows placed on the table, the enemies lock hands and began trying to force the other to give in.

"Give up girl, you may be faster than me at close combat, but you're not gonna beat a reaper at anything involving physical strength!" Chef tried taunting Izzy and wearing her spirit down.

"Oh ho ho, still underestimating E-Scope I see Cheffie. I can tell that you're only using your real form in your forearm! It's gonna take a lot more than that to beat me!" Izzy said as the table under them began to crack, only for her to suddenly bring Chef's entire body down to the ground instead of just his arm. Since she'd won, Izzy leapt into the air and cheered "I win! Yatta!"

"You're up Brick." Chris faced the Cadet after taking out another dare card "Let's see, your dare is to watch some anime called...Boku no Pico!"

When those members of the cast who had knowledge on anime heard what this dare was, they gasped in shock and disgust at what Brick was about to subjected to. However, considering the cadet didn't watch anime, he was very calm about this news "Eh, big deal?"

"You fool! Do you have any idea what you're about to do to yourself?" Izzy grabbed Brick by the shoulders and shook him violently.

"Izzy's right for once Brick! You won't be the same again if you watch that monstrosity!" Gwen tried yelling down from the bleachers, getting a few surprised looks from her teammates.

"You're not going to scare me off Gwen. I fully intend on winning this challenge for my team, and psychological warfare from my rivals won't sway that!" Brick disregarded their warnings and walked with Chef to the mess hall where he'd be shown the anime.

Not but 15 minutes later did Brick come back out of the mess hall screaming like a little girl, before crying into Chris' chest "How could anyone come up with something so evil! I couldn't watch another second of that nightmare!"

"And it looks like another win for the Villainous Vultures! And for more good news, no challenges for one whole week while I'm off doing business! That means the Vultures get the added reward of a 4 day trip to Casino Rama in Orilla, Ontario." Chris said with a large grin on his face as he announced this before facing the defeated Hawks "Hawks, I'll see you in the Colosseum of Losers tonight, so you'd better decide which butt to kick off!"

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Izzy: "It was so cute how Brick just ran away like that. But he still should have listened to us about that _thing_!"**

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 **Brick: *whimpers***

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 **Duncan: "There's no pretending we don't know who's going home tonight. All I can say is sayonara psycho!"**

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 **Sierra: "I've had enough of people trying to get away with me and Cody's love when it's obvious we're meant for each other; it's thanks to them Cody thinks it's alright to go around swapping spit with just anybody! That boy is going to be mine... _one way or another._ "**

* * *

 **(WARNING:** **The following scene will be rather intense, and barely fits into the tenants of a T rating. If you wish to skip through it, now would be the time)**

"So Cody, what did you need to talk to me about. Any details on your new girlfriend?" Harold said slyly to Cody as they walked out of the boy's side of the loser cabins. For some reason Cody had decided to get Harold to talk with him about something that had recently happened, but that didn't mean Harold wasn't going to lose the opportunity to tease his friend.

In response to this, Cody stuttered "It's not like that Harold! I mean, I think we may talk about things soon but...it's complicated."

"Sure it is." Harold rolled his eyes, before noticing three of his former teammates on the Killer Bass coming his way; specifically Geoff, DJ, and Duncan, who'd previously made it their mission to torment him in the wake of his underwear problem.

"So what did you guys need to-oh..." Duncan stopped when he saw Cody and Harold, as he realized exactly what his friends had planned. Trying to ease some of the tension that was thickening in the air, Duncan spoke "So Harold, how have you been doing? We haven't really talked much since our fight a few challenges ago."

While Harold was hesitant at first, he looked back at Cody who gave him a quick nod and decided to speak "Not very good to be honest. I really miss Leshawna after Heather got her voted off, and I don't really feel good about what I did during our fight. I thought that finally getting a chance to show you how I felt all the times you messed with me would feel amazing, and it did it first. But then I realized that beating up on someone who won't even fight back isn't honorable in the slightest."

"Look, dweeb-"

"Let me finish man. I actually thought you looked cool and wanted to be friends at first, but all you did is pick on me and nothing I did was ever good enough. I thought I could prove my worth by showing off my mad skills for the team, but then I made it worse by dumping my gitch around the cabin. Then something just snapped and I decided to take it out on Courtney when I realized you were an item. But I felt really guilty about that too, and I've never really talked about it on the show until now. Probably cause it was the dumbest thing I could have possibly done. I guess what I'm trying to say Duncan is, I'm sorry I pounded on you a few days ago."

"Harold, we've both been out of line. If I'd never started messing with you in the first place, none of that stuff would have happened." Duncan put his hand on the nerd's shoulder.

"Yeah man, I never should have gotten mixed up in picking on you either." DJ stepped up and apologized to Harold as well "I mean, leaving your briefs around the cabin like that was pretty gross but it still wasn't any excuse to be a bull. Sorry Harold."

"But DJ, you're one of the nicest people on the entire show; you shouldn't have to apologize! If anything I should have just manned up and put my undies away instead of making such a big deal out of the whole thing."

"That doesn't excuse me and Duncan keeping up with after you said you'd stop though. And even if you never put up your underwear or admitted it was yours, we still went way too far. We're really sorry dude." Geoff took his hat off and placed it over his heart.

"Sorry man." Duncan bowed his head in apology to his old victim.

While Harold was speechless at this all for a moment, he shortly found the words he wanted to say "Geoff, DJ, we're cool okay so don't worry about it. Duncan, after three seasons of making my life a living hell and messing everything up, I'm not sure if I'm ready to forgive you just yet...but that doesn't mean we have to be enemies either. Truce?"

"Yeah man, truce." Duncan agreed to this proposal as he shook Harold's hand, before turning to face his friends "Thanks for setting this up you bunch of dorks. Now if you'll excuse us Geoff, us wimpy heroes have an elimination to get ready for. Enjoy the casino man!"

"Won't be a party without you guys. I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures while I'm there though!" Geoff happily declared before he and the rest of the group heard a familiar high pitched voice beckoning one of them from the girl's side of the cabin.

"Excuse me, Cody? Could you come inside please, there's something I'd like to talk to you about before we have to go vote someone out?" Dawn called her crush, thought she wasn't visible due to being inside the cabin at the time. This caused Cody's legs to turn to metaphorical jelly as the other guys there began pushing him closer to the cabin.

"What are you waiting for pipsqueak, go talk to her!"

"She ain't gonna wait forever man!"

"Give her some slack, than reel her in! Then, give her some more slack, then reel-"

"She's a girl Geoff, not a mackerel!"

Cody stood in front of the door to the girls side of the cabin with his hands on the door knob, his mind a hive of anxious and self deprecating thoughts. However, with the encouragement of his friends in mind, the geek found the nerve to open the door and face the girl who had been occupying his mind as of late. However, upon walking into the room he saw only darkness with no Dawn in sight. Before Cody had any time to comprehend this, a blanket had been thrown over his head and a much taller, stronger person had tackled him to the ground.

Once he had the blanket was removed, said person began forcefully pressing their lips onto his in a way that was very painful. To his horror, Cody opened his eyes to find that this person was Sierra, who's eyes were now glowing a shade of purple that matched her hair. Though he managed to wrestle free of her grip for the briefest of moments before Sierra grabbed hold of him again and gagged him with a hoodie of Bridgette's the surfer girl had left lying around.

"I did a pretty good impression of that home wrecker didn't I Cody-wody? Not sure if I should be proud I could pull that off or hurt you're so comfortable with betraying my love!" Sierra said in a quiet tone, ignoring Cody's cries for help that had been muffled by the gag. His fear only increased when he realized the girl had her hair down and had a pair of scissors in hand "But I forgive you! I know we can still make things work, just as soon as I make sure a message is left to that witch!"

The geeks grunts then turned into full blown screams of desperation as Sierra used the scissors in her hands to pin down the sweater vest he'd been wearing to the floor, only a few inches away from his neck "I'm going to make sure you never leave me for any other girl, _and that you'll be mine forever_!"

"Wanna bet psycho?"

Sierra then turned around to see Duncan's first heading right into her face as she tumbled to the ground. The former delinquent than moved to remove the makeshift gag from his friend's mouth, who was now breathing heavily and coughing like he'd been diagnosed with a nasty cold. They didn't have long to celebrate though, as the furious Sierra with blood dripping from her nose and scissors in hand "GET OUT OF HERE DUNCAN! HE IS GOING TO LOVE ME, _WHETHER HE LIKES IT OR NOT!"_

Before things could go any further between Duncan and Sierra, the fangirl's entire body suddenly stiffened before she collapsed to the ground in a fainting spell. While Duncan wondered what could have caused this for a moment, he realized Cody had his hand facing Sierra in the same way he'd normally use his telekinesis "No, I won't." Those were the only words that the boy was capable of saying before he collapsed back to the ground and began to sob his eyes out.

"Um dude..." Duncan tried to come up with something to say to ease Cody's emotional breakdown, only to gain a steely glare and grab him by the hand "Come on man, let's get to the elimination. At least now it's even more obvious who were voting off."

If Duncan had looked back as he led the shivering Cody out of the darkened bedroom, he would have seen a shadowy, gap toothed figure emerge from under the bed and leer at Sierra's unconscious form as it drew a sort of purple energy back from her body, and removed what appeared to be a set of dark strings from her body that receded into his shadow as he whistled In the Hall of the Mountain King "I give you credit Sierra, you were quite the puppet. But even though you've served your purpose to me, I'm afraid that all puppets are made of material that will just rot eventually. Goodbye for now."

* * *

 **Confessional:**

 **Duncan: "After having lived in the same building as Cedric and Mal for once, I've come to realize the difference between bedroom noise when someone's making out, and someone's actively fighting for their lives. Thanks for setting the Pipsqueak's progress back even further by the way!"**

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 **Bridgette: "I can't believe Sierra would do something like that! You think you know a person."**

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 **Sierra: "What...happened to me back there? I feel like I did something horrible!"**

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 **Cody: "I...I..." *cries a little***

* * *

While he awaited the arrival of the Heroic Hawks to their elimination in about ten minutes, Chris had his Roman emperor garb prepared by an unfortunate intern named Jacob. While this intern was just as unfortunate and accident prone as the rest, for some reason he always managed to come out alive. While he finished pinning the toga around Chris' body together, Jacob heard the host's phone ringing and grabbed it "Mr. McLean, your phone is ringing."

While Chris normally wouldn't care about any random phone call, Chris was very tense that day in particular and immediately shoved the host aside to get ahold of it "Get out!"

"But sir, we haven't finished getting your costume on!" Jacob tried to figure out his boss' sudden fit of anger, only to get one of the fruits Chris had nearby thrown at him.

"This is supposed to be an important anonymous phone call! No one can here what we're going to be discussing!" Chris said as he slammed the door on the intern, before making a large gulp and nervously answering the phone "H-hello sir! I got your message a few days ago, and I wanted to assure you that everything is going perfectly fine! No demons or such on this island that would make you need to come down here!"

 _"The tone of your voice says otherwise my_ _friend."_ The voice on the other side spoke with an accent that was altered by the voice changer he had been using to mask his identity " _From what Il Pugnale has been telling me there has been increasing paranormal activity on the island as of late. Strange substance, apparitions appearing in the night, not to mention the behavior of your classroom is getting increasingly more bizarre. But not to worry, I'll be talking to Il Inquisitore Generale of Il Pugnale so we won't have anymore incidents like we did with that one pawn."_

"Really? Oh thank you sir, you have no idea how much-"

 _"You're not out of the woods yet though my friend. The only reason I was able to convince him away from further action is the fact that La Spada and La Penna have there hands full with the Hatters at the moment. For some reason these delinquents are starting to grow in power and have managed to get Fair Folk to join their ranks so we need to prepare for the coming war, especially considering what two Fair Folk were responsible for yesterday."_

"What exactly did they-"

 _"An important artifact was stolen from a United States Government facility by two vampires. As such we'll be sending a representative of La Spada to meet with the members of the Presidential Cabinet within the next week. Your orders are to simply attend the meeting you've been assigned to with representatives from La Penna. Also, be sure to keep a close eye on Cody Anderson, Ezekiel Fisher, Duncan Macbeth, Alejandro Burromuerto, Michael Doran, and Dawn Blomgren. I Inquisitores Generales are worried about their...demonic taint. Don't disappoint us Mr. McLean."_

With that said, the person on the other line hung up and left Chris to think about what had to be done in order to quell the coming hurricane. However, the host didn't have long to think as Chef came in with his Reaper garb on, and the Heroic Hawks now coming into the Congress of Shame to eliminate one of their own. Cody seemed to be very paranoid with his eyes not moving from Sierra, in spite of the fact that DJ and Duncan were now acting has his bodyguards due to their strength.

"Quite the interesting day for you Hawks, which ended in another failure. And now, you have to spend the next four days on Camp Wawankwa. Alone. With Chef." Chris gestured to the cook, who gave the team a threatening grin and wave "The following contestants are safe:...Dawn! Trent, Cameron, Sam, and DJ."

Chris called the names of the contestants who hadn't received a vote and threw them their marshmallows "Zoey, Mike, Duncan, Bridgette. Also safe, Noah and Owen." Owen caught the marshmallow in his mouth in midair, before begging at Noah for his like a dog. With a roll of his eyes, Noah handed his larger friend the snack.

"Harold, Cody, you both live another day." Chris threw the marshmallows to the two geeks, though Cody was not in the mood for eating and simply let his marshmallow hit him in the middle of the forehead before it dropped to the ground. It was then that Chris focused on the only two left who hadn't received a marshmallow, Brick and Sierra "Sierra, Brick, this is the final marshmallow of the evening. Sierra, you cost your team a huge number of players during the challenge today, and threatening your teammates with scissors really isn't a good look for you."

"But-but-" Sierra tried to justify her actions, despite not entirely remembering them only to be cut off by Chris.

"And Brick you...actually I think it's pretty obvious who's being sent home tonight. Catch Brick!" Chris threw the army cadet his marshmallow, before turning his attention back to the shellshocked Sierra "Sierra, the Colosseum of Losers awaits."

"What?!" Sierra cried as she tried to recollect on how things had gone south, but found that her patchy memory over the past few days made this very difficult. Desperately wanting answers, Sierra faced the only person she could think of "C-Cody?"

To her horror, Cody averted her gaze as he could no longer bear to look at her while Duncan gave her a mocking wave and evil glare. With that being done, Chris placed his thumb near his throat and dropped Sierra's star into the fire pit below, before activating the Colosseum "Appeal denied" A mere second after Chris said this, a collar and chain shot out from the room that led to the Colosseum and grabbed Sierra by the neck, before dragging the screaming fangirl inside.

 _Elimination: Loser-Con_

Sierra found herself chained to a chair in a dark room after having been taken into the colosseum, and was now desperately trying to free herself. However, she didn't get very far before the room lit up and revealed she'd somehow ended up in an area resembling a panel room at a convention, which was filled to the brim with interns acting as cosplayers. Specifically, cosplaying as Cedric, holding up various types of canes in the air as the mocked her.

"Blighter!"

"Blighter!"

"Blighter!"

"Blighter!"

"Blighter!"

"Blighter!"

To make matters even worse for the fan girl, the chair she'd been chained to somehow converted itself to a rack-like device and forcibly stood her up, at which point it began to wrap her up in uncomfortable and sticky sport's tape. All the while the Cedric cosplayers continued to jeer her, before a glass wall fell in between in the rooms and tar began pouring into the room at a rapid rate. Before she knew it, Sierra was up to her neck in tar before it finally stopped flowing.

Sierra let out a sigh of relief, thinking her punishment was finally over once the tar began to drain out, only to realize she had been released from her chains and was now being sucked out of the room with it. As she got closer and closer to the room's drain, Sierra screamed before finally being removed from the Colosseum and the game as a whole "COOOOOOOODDDDY!" With that, the fangirl was dragged into the hole with the tar, with no evidence of her presence left in the room to speak of.

"And that's what we do to crazy people around here." Chris said as he gestured to the monitor that showed the Hawks Sierra's elimination "Seriously, the last thing we need on the show is that level of creepy. Now then, the rest of you are safe...for tonight!"

Once Chris had made this announcement, the Hawks stood up from their seats and began to pour out of the congress to prepare for the upcoming week. However, none did this faster than Cody, who had leapt from the railings and ran out the door as fast as his legs could carry him. While Dawn looked like she wanted to follow him, she held herself back as she knew her crush needed to be alone.

At the pace he had been sprinting, it only took Cody mere moments to reach the dock where they had once held the elimination, where he proceeded to gaze across the horizon of the lake where the island lay. Then, he began through his seemingly infinite pockets to take out a bottle of pills labeled _Schizophrenia,_ before taking two pills out and swallowing which a speed resembling a dried man would an oasis in the desert.

While the pills caused his body to feel different shortly after their consumption, his mental disorder quickly won out as the apparition of a smiling Cedric was now standing in front of Cody. Seeing the demon appearing before him, Cody felt his vision grow red and his teeth gritting like mad, before he began to angrily scream at the empty lake "YOU HAPPY NOW HATTER! IT'S JUST YOU AND ME NOW! BRING IT ON! I'M NOT GOING DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT! YOU HAVEN'T EVEN SEEN MY HAND YET HATTER! YOU CAN BREAK MY SPIRIT ALL YOU WANT, YOU HEAR? I'LL BE HAPPY JUST TO END IT ALL! YOU CAN'T SCARE ME ANYMORE!"

* * *

"I can hear him screaming at me like a loon even from all the way in Germany. Isn't dimensional warping a wonder of technology." Cedric grinned as he listened to Cody's cries of anguish, before lighting another cigarette for him to smoke. All the while the remaining members of the Axis of Malevolence came to meet in the Bloody Jackal Bar, having been called in their sleep once again and looking very groggy from the torturous challenge.

Scott looked around the increasingly familiar surroundings of the bar, only to realize something different concerning the painting frames kept off to the side. Besides the frame that held a portrait of Vito, a portrait of an agonized looking Svetlana now hung on the wall, while the Malevolent One and his flames were now absent from his usual painting "What's with all the Mike paintings? You got a man crush on him or something."

"Don't start flirting with me B.O., I know I'm incredibly beautiful but I don't swing that way. Or anyway for that matter." Cedric said to his subordinate as he took another White Russian from the surly looking Roger, before blowing a ring of smoke out of his mouth "Now then, thanks to your quick thinking sloth, we were able to take out one of the smartest heroes. With Spiders down, she can't get suspicious of anyone's behavior. So I commend you."

"Glad someone understands my natural leadership skills." Heather took the compliment, if for no other reason than to get under Jo's skin.

"Yeah, you got eliminated first in the challenge earlier! Some leader you are!"

"Shut up!"

"Both of you shove it!" Eva rolled her eyes at them.

"Shemale's got a point loves, arguing isn't what I called you here for. What I did call you here for however, is to meet some potential business partners of mine." Cedric gestured to the back door of the bar, which opened and allowed several men into the room.

The first of these was clearly the Malevolent One, though somehow his appearance was still shadowed in spite of how he stood in the light. The next would be two fraternal twin brothers, respectively having blonde or black hair, but both having noticeable fangs. The final man was rather rotund with a full brown beard and a black military uniform, with a familiar 10/6 being placed over his heart. Their appearance surprised the members of the Axis, as they recognized the latter man's uniform rather well from the news. But what drew the most attention to the men was the large and heavy looking crate that the brothers were holding.

"The Hatters!" Jo recognized the street gang rather easily, before turning to Cedric "Inviting your fan club into the alliance eh?"

"I suppose you could say that. I presume they have what we asked for Malven?" Cedric said as his expression turned to that of an interested glare "Otherwise, they shouldn't be dumb enough to face us like this."

"Oh believe me Cedric, they have what we need. Luke, Jan: Show the Mad Hatter Killer what you have for him boys." The Malevolent One ordered the vampires to drop the load they had been carrying, before they broke open the crate and revealed what was inside. The contents of the crate shimmered with an almost heavenly light that nearly blinded those witnessing it, and especially irritated those like the Valentine Brothers and Cedric.

While they couldn't see exactly what it was at first, eventually the light had dimmed enough to allow the residents of the bar to see exactly what it was. From what they could identify, it was a golden covered wooden chest that had two golden bird wings adorning the lid, and had two long handled in order to make it easier to carry. Anyone in the room with much biblical knowledge were easily able to identify what it was.

"The Ark of the Covenant! How did you..." Jolly Roger whispered to himself in disbelief, as he couldn't comprehend exactly what was right before him.

Even Cedric seemed to be surprised by what they managed to steal, though this shock quickly faded into utter glee "Oh my! You fanboys are certainly more than I ever expected! To think you were actually able to steal one of the strongest artifacts in the world right under the nose of the US Government! What are your names?"

"Luke Valentine."

"Jan Valentine."

"Iago Woermann."

Each of the men then proceeded to kneel to Cedric, with looks of either awe or excitement etched onto their faces "My lord, we're honored that you would have us here, in your humble abode. Tell us, is there anything else we must do to retrieve your trust in the coming war for our cause of anarchy?" Iago asked Cedric, who didn't seem very interested in the man's brown-nosing.

"I don't really have anything of the sort. But after this whole mess you should probably keep your necks hidden for a bit, unless you want the Inquisition to firebomb you off the streets!" Cedric morosely said as he dumped more ashes into the tray that he kept on the bar.

However, the mention of this new group managed to catch the attention of Heather, who was very intimidated by arrival of these stranger's much like the rest of the Axis "Um, who or what exactly is the Inquisition?"

"Long story short, it's a bunch of hippy religious wing-nuts who formed some sort of task force to try and prevent anything like me from ever happening on Earth again. Something about three different divisions and a fetish for the Italian language." Cedric with a roll of his eyes before remembering the other figures of the Axis they hadn't introduced yet "Also, these freaks haven't been brought into the fold yet, but they'll pretty important later on. This is Jolly Roger, the ghost of some bum off the streets who's acting as our bartender. The vampire in his bat form hanging from the ceiling is a former serial killer from Austria-Hungary named Béla Kiss. We're keeping him in that form when people are around because he's the type that doesn't play well with women."

"Wait what?" Heather said in shock before ducking under the bar and trying to avert the bat's gaze "Why are you allowing him in here then!"

"Relax Sloth, he tries anything I'll have Roger turn him into a bloody mary. Now then, since you blokes have done what we've asked with ruthless efficiency, I believe you should bring the leader of all Hatters to our lovely little bar. That way we can discuss a merger with your fan club and the Axis of Malevolence." Cedric slammed the rest of his White Russian.

"We'd prefer you do so 12 days from now. We're on a tight schedule, and the Dark Crusade must be nearing its end as autumn begins." The Malevolent One spoke to the Hatters.

"Oh blimey you edgy slag, we're not calling it that!"

"If my debtors done interrupting me, there's one other project to be completed within the 12 days before our leaders meet. And this time, I'll be assisting you in your objective." The shadowy figure approached Iago before letting a small polaroid emerge from the blackness covering his chest, and slipping into the man's pocket "This man is named Malcolm Macbeth. Your assignment is to attack this building in Winnipeg, Canada and take 13 hostages while making your status as Hatters known. This man is a member of the SWAT team, and it's likely he'll be assisting in the fight. Once he's arrived, dispose of all the hostages and the rest of the SWAT team, but take him to this warehouse on the coast of the Red River. I'll be meeting you there."

"Um, isn't Duncan's last name Macbeth?" Scott asked, only to be silenced almost immediately by Malven's glare.

"Ten days? We'll contact the Headmistress and arrange the meeting for precisely 10 days from now, my lords. All hail the madness." Iago gave Cedric and the Malevolent One a quick salute, before he and his subordinates walked out in the backroom and into the woods outside.

"You heard the fanboy with the beard ladies, we got 12 days before we kick this game of cards into overdrive, and the tea gets a bit more zip to it! So you have to erase any threats to what we have planned, like Spiders for example. In other words, go for the pawns surrounding our kings, being Beanpole and Lack of Personality Disorder. Any request for the station before we close up for the night?"

While the women of the Axis seemed satisfied, Scott stepped up and reported "I know he's a complete idiot and isn't that much of a threat, but Geoff has started seeings things at night thanks to his sentry duty. I'm pretty sure he's seen tall, dark, and spooky moving around the island a couple of times."

"What?!" Cedric snapped the cigarette in his fingers when he heard this, before turning to his partner "You let Rodeo see you dumbarse?!"

"Don't worry, give me a tarp and some floor cleaner and I'll deal with that frat boy idiot." The Malevolent One said as he cracked his knuckles.

"We can't kill anyone this early on genius, then they'll get suspicious. Besides, you've got another field trip to make that find a certain individual. But...that is what we have these blokes for." Cedric remembered with a grin, before turning to face his minions "You've all proven yourself adept at destroying the competition in this game. Take care of Rodeo, I'll reward you handsomely!

Realizing what was at stake not only for the game, but whatever power Cedric had planned for them, each of the Axis gave each other a competitive glare. The only exception to this was Eva, who gave a steely gaze as if deep in thought. However, what these competitors didn't know, was that the power being offered to them would put them in the crosshairs of a great conflict none of them could even begin to comprehend.

* * *

 **(A/N): I yearn for the day I can make regular updates on my stories without having to go on hiatuses again. I am once again sorry for the wait that took longer than it should have, but as usual college is a beating. And this is just Community College, starting University next semester should be even more tense.**

 **I'm either going to get Ninja of Santoryu or Part of a Family out next, but more likely the latter since it hasn't been updated in almost a year. Since as it turns out, this is the only story I'm writing for in which the community behind it hasn't gone into a potential garbage fire. I mean, holy shit. Just, holy shit. But I digress.**

 **The plot is very much starting to thicken with this story, with groups such as the Hatters and the Inquisition taking the stage along with inclusion of other dark lore species besides demons. All I can say is, get ready for a fun ride, especially once the rating changes to M in three chapters.**

 **One last thing before I go is a quick shout out to my partners in crime: Lord NV, who's a large part of the reason this series made it past the rewrite, and my best bro KaniKit. Not to mention CMR Rosa, who's done a lot for the story's TV Tropes page, and qMargot, who made a cover for Voodoo's Disciple. Which is awesome.**

 **Now then, please leave a review and don't forget to follow and favorite if you want to see more of this story. Cause remember babes, it won't be listed int K-T much longer. See you guys later!**

 **. . .**


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